J 


I 


JOHN  ROSS  AND  THE  CHEROKEE 
INDIANS 


TO 

THE  MEMORY  OF 

MY  MOTHER 


JOHN  ROSS  AND  THE 
CHEROKEE  INDIANS 


RACHEL  CAROLINE  EATON,  A.M. 


Stye  Collegiate  Tfirtaa 

GEORGE  BANTA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

MENASHA,    WISCONSIN 

1914 


Copyright,  1914,  By 

George  Banta  Publishing  Company 

Publishers 


FOREWORD 

There  is  no  more  tragic  history  than  that  of  the  Cherokee 
Indians.  The  steady  growth  and  development  of  this  group 
of  aborigines  living  among  the  mountains  of  Georgia,  North 
Carolina  and  Tennessee  is  interesting  as  showing  their  capacity 
for  building  a  culture  of  their  own.  Landowners,  masters  of 
negro  slaves,  inventors  of  an  alphabet  of  their  own  and  or- 
ganizers of  an  adequate  civil  government,  they  offered  from  the 
close  of  the  American  revolution  to  the  advent  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son, a  unique  example  of  Indian  life.  And  what  is  more  impor- 
tant to  the  student  of  the  politics  of  the  United  States  the 
Cherokees  proposed  to  form  a  state  of  their  own  after  the 
manner  of  the  other  states  of  the  Union.  This  bold  proposition 
raised  many  problems :  What  would  the  people  of  Georgia  do  if 
the  United  States  refused  to  guarantee  the  integrity  of  her 
boundaries?  What  would  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  answer 
to  a  petition  under  the  treaties  with  the  national  government  for 
local  authority  and  self-government  inside  the  bounds  of  one 
of  the  original  thirteen  states?  And  if  the  Georgians  and  the 
Indians  came  to  blows  what  would  be  the  effect  of  Federal  in- 
tervention ? 

Thus  we  see  that  the  history  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  offers 
a  good  opportunity  to  any  student  who  has  sympathy  for  the 
natives  and  a  proper  sense  for  the  realities  of  the  American 
national  development.  Mrs.  Eaton  in  her  Life  of  John  Ross, 
about  whose  career  centers  most  of  the  story  of  the  Cherokee 
exploitation  and  sorrowful  removal  to  Oklahoma,  has  touched 
upon  or  answered  most  of  these  questions,  and  her  story  is 
presented  clearly  and  in  most  interesting  manner.  The  book 
ought  to  find  many  readers. 

William  E.  Dodd 
University  of  Chicago, 

September  30,  1914. 


325087 


PREFACE 

In  the  written  records  of  America  the  place  accorded  the 
aboriginal  peoples  who  once  ruled  over  the  whole  western  world 
can  scarcely  be  considered  a  reputable  one.  The  very  name 
Indian  is  a  misnomer  due  to  a  geographical  error  of  the  fifteenth 
century  which  enlightened  knowledge  has  failed  to  correct. 

On  the  pages  of  United  States  history  the  Indian  usually 
appears  seated  at  the  council  fire  grimly  plotting  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  enemy,  or  formidable  in  feathers  and  war  paint,  toma- 
hawk in  hand,  he  lurks  darkly  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization 
awaiting  an  opportunity  to  fall  upon  defenseless  pioneers 
whose  scalp  he  can  display  as  proof  of  his  prowess.  That  he 
has  ever  cherished  any  but  sinister  sentiments  for  those  who 
dispossessed  him  of  his  birthright  or  that  he  has  exercised  any 
but  destructive  influences  upon  the  history  of  the  country  has 
been  too  often  ignored.  It  is  even  denied  that  he  is  capable 
of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization. 

Nevertheless  it  true  that  some  of  the  most  eminent  physi- 
cians, eloquent  preachers,  prominent  authors,  astute  financiers 
and  constructive  statesmen  in  America  today  are  of  this  same 
aboriginal  stock. 

The  aim  of  this  historical  sketch  is  to  trace  the  evolution 
from  barbarism  to  civilization  of  one  of  the  most  progressive 
tribes  of  North  American  Indians;  to  give  a  sympathetic  in- 
terpretation of  their  struggle  to  maintain  their  tribal  identity 
and  ancestral  domains  against  the  overwhelming  tide  of  eco- 
nomic development  advancing  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  west- 
ward ;  to  relate  the  story  of  their  forcible  removal  to  the  west- 
ern wilderness  where  in  the  midst  of  hard-won  prosperity  they 
were  plunged  into  the  horrors  of  the  Civil  War.  John  Ross 
by  reason  of  his  chieftainship  of  nearly  four  decades,  was  the 
most  interesting  of  several  able  men  of  this  tribe. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  book  abundant  use  has  been  made 
of  the  manuscripts  placed  at  my  disposal  by  the  Sequoyah 
Historical  Society  of  Claremore,  Oklahoma,  of  the  Payne  Man- 
uscripts in  the  Ayer  Collection  of  the  Newberry  Library,  Chi- 


cago,  and  of  the  manuscript  letters  and  records  in  the  United 
States  Indian  Office. 

I  am  also  deeply  indebted  to  Mr.  Leon  C.  Ross  and  Mr. 
Robert  L.  Ross  of  Tahlequah,  Oklahoma,  for  the  free  use  of 
their  rare  collections  of  letters  and  documents :  to  Mr.  A.  S. 
Wyley  for  information  on  Cherokee  education,  and  to  Mr.  An- 
drew Cunningham  and  Colonel  J.  C.  Harris  for  access  to  the 
Cherokee  National  records  at  Tahlequah. 

To  Professor  Edward  M.  Sheppard  of  Drury  College,  who 
first  encouraged  me  to  take  up  the  study  of  Indian  history,  I 
owe  sincere  thanks.  To  Professor  William  E.  Dodd,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  without  whose  helpful  suggestions  and  unfail- 
ing interest  the  book  would  never  have  been  completed,  I  desire 
to  express  my  special  gratitude.  For  a  critical  reading  of  the 
manuscript  I  am  under  obligations  to  Professors  A.  C.  Mc- 
Laughlin, Frances  W.  Shepardson  and  Frederick  Starr  of  the 
University  of  Chicago. 

In  addition  to  those  mentioned  there  are  others  whom  I  wish 
to  thank  for  assistance  rendered  and  encouragement  given. 
Among  these  is  Mrs.  Frances  J.  Moseby,  my  late  colleague  at 
the  Industrial  Institute  and  College  of  Mississippi. 

Lastly,  if  the  background  of  the  story  adds  anything  to 
the  merit  of  the  book  the  credit  is  due  to  Mrs.  Lucy  Ward  Wil- 
liams, one  of  the  last  of  the  fireside  historians  of  her  race,  whose 
vital  interest  in  her  people  constrained  her  to  repeat  their  story 
in  season  and  out  of  season  until  it  was  rooted  and  grounded  in 
my  memory  from  earliest  childhood. 


CONTENTS 

Page 
Chapter  I 
The  Youth  and  Early  Training  of  John  Ross 1 

Chapter  II 
Early  History  of  the  Cherokees 7 

Chapter  III 
John  Ross  Beginning  his  Public  Career 23 

Chapter  IV 
Georgia's  Growing  Demand  for  Indian  Land 39 

Chapter  V 
Georgia's  Hostility  to  the  Cherokees 47 

Chapter  VI 
The  Cherokees  Adopt  a  Constitution 52 

Chapter  VII 
The  Removal  Bill 60 

Chapter  VIII 
Factional   Strife    71 

Chapter  IX 
The  National  Executive  Refuses  Protection  to  the  Indians        77 

Chapter  X 
The  Annuity  Plot 83 

Chapter  XI 
The  New  Echota  Treaty 92 

Chapter  XII 
Opposition  to  the  Treaty 100 

Chapter  XIII 
Compulsory  Removal 110 


Chapter  XIV 
The  Trail  of  Tears 121 

Chapter  XV 
A  Triple  Tragedy 126 

Chapter  XVI 
Political  Readjustment ; 136 

Chapter  XVII 
Political  Readjustment,  Concluded 148 

Chapter  XVIII 
Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development 161 

Chapter  XIX 
The  Civil  War 174 

Chapter  XX 
The  Civil  War,  Concluded 188 

Chapter  XXI 
Reconstruction  of  the  Cherokee  Nation 198 

BIBLIOGRAPHY    210 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Youth  and  Early  Training  of  John  Ross 

Few  men  of  aboriginal  American  stock  have  figured  more 
conspicuously  in  United  States  history  or  have  been  the  subject 
of  more  diverse  opinions  than  has  John  Ross,  who,  for  nearly 
forty  years,  was  chief  of  the  Cherokee  Indians. 

Beginning  his  political  career  when  Georgia  was  commen- 
cing to  assert  her  extreme  views  in  regard  to  the  Indian  ques- 
tion, he  was  considered  by  Georgia  statesman  and  border  politi- 
cian as  "a  silent  and  a  sordid  man,"1  dangerous  and  obnoxious, 
to  be  feared  for  his  influence  over  the  Indians  and  hated  because 
he  was  absolutely  incorruptible.  To  the  majority  of  the  Chero- 
kees  he  was  a  Solomon  in  the  council  and  a  David  in  the  defense 
of  their  rights.  Between  these  extreme  opinions  were  those  of 
such  men  as  Clay,  Webster,  and  Marshall,  who  considered  him 
a  cultured  and  an  honest  gentleman,  the  peer  of  many  who  sat 
in  the  legislative  halls  at  Washington.  Even  his  bitterest  ene- 
mies conceded  that  he  possessed  ability  of  no  mean  order. 

His  qualities  of  leadership  early  forced  him  into  the  fore- 
front of  the  conflict  which,  for  almost  two  decades,  waged  so 
bitterly  in  Georgia  and  on  the  borders  of  Tennesssee  and 
Alabama,  and  which  finally  terminated  in  the  expatriation  of 
the  Cherokees.  In  the  new  nation  which  they  organized  beyond 
the  Mississippi  he  was  again  at  the  head  of  government,  which 
position  he  held  until  his  death,  just  after  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War. 

Tracing  the  lineage  of  John  Ross,  we  find  that  he  inherited 
his  white  blood  from  sturdy  and  eminently  reputable  Scotch 
stock,  while  his  Indian  ancestors  were  prominent  clansmen  of 
the  Cherokees,  this  most  progressive  tribe  of  North  American 
aborigines.  His  maternal  grandfather  was  John  McDonald, 
born  at  Inverness,  Scotland,  in  1847.  As  a  youth  of  nineteen 
McDonald  visited  London,  and  there  falling  in  with  another 
young  Scotchman  who  had  just  engaged  passage  to  America, 
he  decided  to  go  with  him  and  try  his  fortunes  in  the  New 

1  Cong.  Doc.   315,  No.  120,  p.  573. 


2  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

World.  They  landed  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  1766. 
McDonald  soon  made  his  way  to  Savannah  where  he  secured  a 
clerkship  in  a  mercantile  establishment  which  carried  on  a 
thriving  trade  among  the  Indians.  His  business  judgment  and 
steady  habits  inspired  his  employers  with  such  confidence  that 
they  sent  him  to  Fort  Loudon  on  the  Tennessee  near  Kingston,2 
to  open  up  and  superintend  trade  among  the  Cherokees.  It 
was  not  long  until  he  set  up  in  business  for  himself  and  married 
Ann  Shorey,  a  half-blood  Cherokee  woman. 

In  the  early  days  of  colonization,  when  a  white  man  married 
an  Indian  woman,  it  was  the  custom  among  the  Indians  to  adopt 
him  into  the  tribe  if  he  was  deemed  worthy  of  such  honor; 
thereafter  he  cast  his  lot  among  his  adopted  people,  adapting 
himself  to  their  customs  and  becoming  identified  with  their 
interests.  So  John  McDonald,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  be- 
came a  Cherokee  of  the  Cherokees,  and  when  a  band  of  them 
encroached  upon  by  the  white  settlers  and  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  garrison  at  Fort  Loudon,  left  their  homes  and  pushed 
out  into  the  wilderness  of  northwest  Georgia,  he  went  with  them 
and  settled  near  Lookout  Mountain.  It  was  here  he  met,  under 
most  romantic  circumstances,  Daniel  Ross,  another  Scotchman, 
who  was  destined  to  play  a  larger  part  than  his  countryman  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Cherokees. 

Daniel  Ross  was  originally  from  Sutherlandshire,  Scotland. 
In  his  childhood  he  had  gone  with  his  parents  to  America  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  They  settled  in  Balti- 
more where  Daniel  was  left  an  orphan  at  the  close  of  the 
American  Revolution.  Like  many  another  young  man  of  the 
time  the  West  so  appealed  to  him  that  he  accompanied  a  Mr. 
Mayberry  to  Hawkins  County,  Tennessee,  where  they  built  a 
flatboat,  filled  it  with  merchandise  and  started  down  the  Ten- 
nessee to  the  Chickasaw  country  to  trade  in  furs.  Their  route 
led  them  through  the  most  hostile  part  of  the  land  of  the  Chero- 
kees, and  when  the  party  reached  the  town  of  Sitico  on  the 
Tennessee  River  near  Lookout  Mountain,  their  appearance 
caused  considerable  excitement  among  the  natives.  The  whole 
community  turned  out  at  once  eager  to  know  the  design  of  the 

3  Tennessee. 


The  Youth  and  Early  Training  of  John  Ross         3 

strangers.  Upon  investigation  it  was  found  that,  in  addition 
to  valuable  merchandise,  the  party  had  on  board  a  hostile  chief 
named  Mountain  Leader.  Bloody  Fellow,  a  Cherokee  chief, 
counseled  the  massacre  of  the  whole  party  and  a  confiscation  of 
their  property.  A  division  of  opinion  having  arisen  concerning 
this  course,  John  McDonald,  who  lived  fifteen  miles  away,  was 
summoned  to  give  his  advice  on  the  subject.  Arriving  on  the 
scene  of  excitement  he  investigated  the  nature  of  the  party  and, 
finding  its  object  a  legitimate  one,  urged  that  no  harm  be  done 
the  strangers.  He  also  warned  Bloody  Fellow  that  any  injury 
done  the  white  men  would  be  considered  a  personal  affront  to 
him.  Not  only  were  the  traders  released,  but  they  were  invited 
to  remain  and  establish  a  trading  post  in  that  country,  and  the 
invitation  was  accepted.3 

Daniel  Ross  soon  afterwards  married  Mollie  McDonald, 
daughter  of  John  McDonald,  a  woman  said  to  possess  rare 
beauty  of  face  and  charm  of  manner.  During  the  next  twenty 
years  he  travelled  in  different  parts  of  the  Cherokee  Nation, 
establishing  trading  posts  and  conducting  successful  business 
enterprises.  He  was  a  man  of  irreproachable  character  and 
sturdy  honesty,  with  the  same  code  of  ethics  for  red  man  and 
white,  and  gradually  he  came  to  wield  a  considerable  influence 
among  the  Cherokees. 

Of  the  nine  children  of  Mollie  and  Daniel  Ross,  John,  the 
third  son,  was  born  at  Tahnoovayah,  on  the  Coosa  River,  in 
1790.  He  grew  up  for  the  most  part  like  any  other  little 
Indian  boy  of  the  time  in  the  free,  outdoor  life  of  the  tribe  in  the 
beautiful  hills  and  valleys  of  the  Cherokee  Nation,  enjoying 
all  the  sports  and  undergoing  all  the  hardships  of  Indian  life. 

When  he  was  about  seven  years  of  age  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Hillstown  to  attend  the  Green  Corn  Festival,  an 
annual  thanksgiving  feast  held  in  the  spring  when  Indian  corn 
was  in  the  roasting  ear.  For  several  days  the  clans  gathered 
from  the  hills  and  valleys  of  all  parts  of  the  nation  and  gave 
themselves  up  to  feasting  and  ball  playing,  religious  ceremonies, 
and  social  intercourse.     John  Ross's  mother  on  this  occasion 

"McKenney  and  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  293. 


4  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

had  dressed  him  in  his  first  suit  of  nankeen  brand  new  made 
after  the  white  man's  style,  and  he  sauntered  out  to  meet  his 
playmates  with  all  the  self-consciousness  of  one  wearing,  for  the 
first  time,  his  new  spring  suit.  But  if  he  expected  to  be  sur- 
rounded immediately  by  admiring  and  envious  playmates  he  was 
doomed  to  disappointment.  Shouts  of  derision  and  taunts  of 
"Unaka  !?'4  greeted  him  on  all  sides ;  even  his  most  intimate 
friends  held  aloof.  Although  the  day  was  a  most  unhappy  one 
he  stood  staunchly  by  his  new  suit  until  bedtime.  But  while 
being  dresssed  by  his  grandmother  the  next  morning  he  burst 
into  tears  and  after  much  coaxing  told  her  of  his  humiliation 
of  the  day  before.  She  comforted  him  as  grandmothers  are 
wont  to  do  the  world  over.  Promptly  the  nankeen  suit  came 
off,  the  hunting  shirt,  leggins  and  moccasins  went  on,  and  the 
small  boy  ran  shouting  to  his  play  happy  and  "at  home"  again, 
as  he  termed  it,  warmly  welcomed  by  his  dusky  clansmen  who 
had  "boycotted"  him  the  day  before. 

About  the  time  of  this  incident  the  problem  of  educating 
his  children  began  seriously  to  concern  Daniel  Ross.  There 
were  no  schools  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  and,  because  of  hostility 
between  the  Indians  and  backsettlers,  there  was  great  hesitancy 
on  the  part  of  conservative  chiefs  to  adopt  any  European 
customs.  A  few  of  the  more  progressive  members  of  the  tribe, 
however,  were  beginning  to  realize  that  in  order  to  cope  suc- 
cessfully with  the  white  man  they  must  understand  his  lan- 
guage, customs  and  laws.  The  broader  policy  prevailed  in  the 
great  council  to  which  Ross  presented  a  request  to  establish  a 
school  on  his  own  premises,5  and  import  a  schoolmaster.  The 
request  was  granted.  John  Barber  Davis  was  employed  as 
teacher,  and  the  school,  started  about  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the 
tribe.  It  was  in  this  school  and  under  this  schoolmaster  that 
John  Ross  laid  the  foundation  for  good  English,  both  oral  and 
written,  which  in  his  later  life  often  astonished  statesmen,  baffled 
politicians,  and  served  him  well  in  his  long  career  in  Cherokee 
national  affairs. 

4  White  man. 

6  Daniel  Ross  was  now  living  at  Maryville,  Tennessee,  about  six  hun- 
dred miles  from  his  former  residence. 


The  Youth  and  Early  Training  of  John  Ross  5 

When  John  and  his  brother,  Lewis,  were  old  enough  they 
were  sent  to  Kingston6  to  attend  a  popular  academy  at  that 
place.  While  here  they  lived  in  the  family  of  a  merchant,  a 
friend  of  their  father,  and  helped  him  in  the  store  out  of  school 
hours.  Kingston  was  a  busy  and  enterprising  town  on  the 
great  emigrant  road  from  Virginia  and  Maryland  through 
Cumberland  Gap  to  Nashville.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  a  constant  stream  of  emigrants  was  pouring 
over  this  highway  seeking  homes  in  the  rich  valleys  of  Tennes- 
see and  Kentucky.  Here  the  two  Scotch  Cherokee  lads,  coming 
in  contact  with  the  busy,  bustling  life  about  them,  had  their 
minds  aroused  to  such  activity  that  progress  in  their  school 
work  went  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  they  proved  to  be  among 
the  brightest  scholars  of  the  institution.  They  also  received 
practical  training  as  clerks  in  the  store,  learning  methods  of 
business  and  accommodation  to  circumstances  which  proved  to 
great  advantage  to  them  when  they  were  ready  to  go  into  busi- 
ness for  themselves.7 

After  spending  two  or  three  years  at  Kingston  they  were 
called  home  by  the  death  of  their  mother  to  whom  both  the  boys 
were  particularly  devoted.  She  was  a  woman  of  strong  char- 
acter and  unusual  intelligence,  and  her  influence  upon  her 
children  was  one  of  the  dominant  factors  of  their  lives.  Herself 
intensely  loyal  to  the  traditions  of  her  ancestors,  she  lost  no 
opportunity  of  instilling  these  sentiments  in  the  minds  of  her 
children.  For  her  son  John,  who  was  the  pride  of  her  heart, 
she  had  cherished  the  greatest  love  and  ambition.  He  was 
heartbroken  and  almost  prostrated  with  grief  at  her  loss  and 
never,  throughout  his  long  life,  ceased  to  cherish  her  memory. 

When  the  brothers,  John  and  Lewis,  grew  to  manhood  they 
set  up  in  business  for  themselves  at  Ross's8  Landing  in  company 
with  John  Meigs.9  Their  business  prospered  and  the  young 
men  enjoyed  the  reputation  for  sobriety  and  honesty,  which 
their  father  had  established  before  them. 

8  Tennessee. 

7McKenney  and  Hall,  p.  296. 

8  Now  Chattanooga,  where  he  finally  located. 

9  Son  of  R.  G.  Meigs,  Indian  agent  for  the  Cherokees. 


6  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

John  developed  into  an  especially  attractive  young  man  of 
medium  height  and  slender,  supple  figure.  His  eyes  were  blue 
and  his  hair  was  brown.  He  is  said  to  have  looked  like  a  typical 
Scotchman,  though  he  manifested  many  Indian  traits  of  char- 
acter. He  possessed  a  quiet,  reserved  manner  and  a  personality 
which  inspired  everyone  with  confidence  and  respect. 

When  still  a  youth  he  took  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  the  tribe,  and  the  older  men  discussed  with  him  freely  the 
problems  which  were  interesting  and  puzzling  them  at  this  time. 
He  thus  began  at  an  early  age  not  only  to  be  interested  in  the 
development  of  the  Cherokees  into  the  greatest  nation  of  civi- 
lized Indians,  but  to  have  a  vital  part  in  that  development. 

In  order  to  have  a  better  understanding  and  appreciation 
of  his  character  it  is  necessary  at  this  point  to  take  at  least  a 
rapid  survey  of  the  history  of  the  Cherokee  Indians  up  to  this 
time. 


CHAPTER  II 

Early  History  of  the  Cherokees 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Cherokees 
were  the  most  powerful  and  the  most  civilized  of  all  the  North 
American  Indians.  Their  possessions,  which  at  one  time  ex- 
tended from  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains 
almost  to  the  Mississippi  and  from  northern  Kentucky  to  cen- 
tral Alabama  and  Georgia,  though  greatly  diminished,  still 
covered  a  territory  of  fifty-three  thousand  square  miles,  almost 
half  of  which  lay  in  Tennessee,  a  small  area  in  southwestern 
North  Carolina,  the  rest  being  about  equally  divided  between 
Alabama  and  Georgia.  They  were  the  mountaineers  of  the 
south  holding  the  mountain  barriers  between  the  English  settle- 
ments on  the  Atlantic  Seacoast  and  the  French  and  Spanish 
garrisons   in  the  Mississippi  Valley   and   on   the   Gulf   Coast. 

They  called  themselves  Yun-wi-yah,  meaning  principal 
people.  The  name  Cherokee,  or  Cheraqui  has  been  given  more 
than  one  interpretation.  According  to  one  version  it  is  a  con- 
traction of  two  words  meaning  "He  takes  fire."1  It  was  be- 
lieved by  the  Spaniards  to  signify  rock-dwellers,  and  was 
probably  given  them  by  neighboring  tribes  as  descriptive  of 
their  mountain  country,2  which  according  to  Bancroft,  was  the 
most  picturesque  and  salubrious  region  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
"Their  homes  are  encircled  by  blue  hills  rising  beyond  blue 
hills  of  which  the  lofty  peaks  would  kindle  with  the  early  light 
and  the  overshadowing  night  envelop  the  valleys  like  a  cloud."3 
David  Brown,  a  Cherokee  youth  educated  at  Cornwall,  Connecti- 
cut, writing  in  1822,  describes  it  as  a  well-watered  and  fertile 
region;  "Abundant  springs  of  pure  water  are  to  be  found 
everywhere,"  he  says.  "A  range  of  lofty  and  majectic  mountains 
stretch  themselves  across  the  nation,  the  northern  part  of  which 

1  This  probably  originated  in  the  belief  that  at  the  Creation  the  Great 
Spirit  gave  the  tribe  a  sacred  fire  which  was  to  be  kept  perpetually 
burning. 

3Mooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokees.  19th.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology, 
Vol.  I,  p.  15. 

8  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  II,  p.  95. 


8  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

is  hilly  while  in  the  southern  and  western  parts  are  extensive 
and  fertile  plains,  covered  partly  with  tall  trees  through  which 
beautiful  streams  of  water  glide.  The  climate  is  delightful  and 
healthy ;  the  winters  are  mild  and  the  spring  clothes  the  ground 
with  richest  verdure.  Cherokee  flowers  of  exquisite  beauty  and 
variegated  hues  meet  and  fascinate  the  eye  in  every  direction."4 

Cradled  in  such  surroundings  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
Cherokees  were  instinctively  artistic  and  responsive  to  every 
form  of  natural  beauty.  The  song  of  bird  and  the  delicate 
fragrance  of  wild  flower  delighted,  while  the  massive  grandeur 
of  mountain  and  forest  filled  with  awe  and  admiration  these 
children  of  the  wilderness,  often  inspiring  their  minds  to  lofty 
flights  of  fancy  which  sometimes  found  expression  in  metaphors 
of  exceeding  subtlety  and  beauty. 

Attachment  to  their  ancestral  homes  was  strong  and  sincere 
and  had  its  root  deep  in  the  past  of  their  domestic  and  religious 
institutions.  As  is  always  the  case  when  a  primitive  people  has 
dwelt  for  a  long  time  in  the  same  region  their  legends  had  be- 
come localized  and  were  associated  with  mountain  peak  and 
prominent  rock  and  tree,  with  spring  and  cave  and  deep  river- 
bend. 

The  English  traveller  Bartram  describes  the  people  of  this 
tribe  as  of  larger  stature  and  fairer  complexion  than  their 
southern  neighbors.  "In  their  manner  and  disposition  they  are 
grave  and  steady;  dignified  and  circumspect  in  their  deport- 
ment ;  rather  slow  and  reserved  in  their  conversation,  yet  frank, 
cheerful  and  humane;  tenacious  of  the  liberties  and  natural 
rights  of  man ;  secret,  deliberate  and  determined  in  their  coun- 
cils; honest,  just  and  liberal,  and  ready  always  to  sacrifice 
every  pleasure  and  gratification,  even  their  blood  and  life  itself, 
to  defend  their  territory  and  maintain  their  rights."5  The  men 
are  described  as  tall,  erect  and  moderately  robust;  their 
feaures  regular  and  their  countenances  open,  dignified  and 
placid,  exhibiting  an  air  of  magnanimity,  superiority  and  rude 
independence ;  The  women  as  tall,  slender,  erect  and  of  delicate 
frame;    their  features   formed  with  perfect   symmetry;    their 

4  American  State  Papers,  II,  p.  651. 

5  Bartram,  Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
etc.,  pp.  366-368  (1792). 


Early  History  of  the  Cherokees  9 

"countenance  cheerful  and  friendly;  they  move  with  a  becom- 
ing grace  and  dignity."6 

They  were  a  religious  people:  but  "never  in  their  most 
savage  state  did  they  worship  the  work  of  their  own  hands, 
neither  fire  nor  water."7  They  believed  in  a  Great  First  Cause, 
in  a  spirit  of  Good,  and  a  spirit  of  Evil  in  constant  warfare 
with  each  other,  the  Good  finally  prevailing.  Heaven,  an  open 
forest  of  shade  and  fruit  trees,  was  adorned  with  fragrant 
flowers  and  mossy  banks  beside  cool  sparkling  streams ;  game 
abounded  and  there  were  enough  feasts  and  dances  to  satisfy 
but  not  to  cloy  the  appetite  for  pleasure.  This  happy  and 
immortal  region  reserved  for  beautiful  women,  prepared  and 
adorned  by  the  Great  Spirit,  and  men  distinguished  for  valor, 
wisdom  and  hospitality,  lay  just  across  the  way  from  the  land 
of  Evil  Spirits,  where  the  wretched  who  had  failed  on  earth  were 
compelled  to  live  in  hunger,  hostility  and  darkness,  hearing  and 
seeing  the  rejoicings  of  the  happy  without  the  hope  of  even 
reaching  the  delectable  shores. 

Witches  and  wizards  were  abroad  in  the  land,  who  professed 
supernatural  powers  and  were  supposed  to  have  intercourse 
with  evil  spirits  and  to  have  the  power  of  transforming  them- 
selves into  beasts  and  birds  in  which  forms  they  took  nocturnal 
excursions  in  pursuit  of  human  prey,  usually,  though  not 
always,  those  stricken  with  disease.  The  croak  of  a  frog  or  the 
hoot  of  an  owl  in  the  twilight  was  enough  to  strike  terror  to  the 
heart  of  the  bravest  Indian  child  who  verily  believed  that  the 
witches  "would  get  him  if  he  didn't  watch  out."8 

Adair,  who  for  forty  years  was  a  trader  among  the  southern 
Indians  and  travelled  extensively  through  their  country  between 
1735  and  1775  describes  the  Cherokees  as  living  in  villages 
situated  beside  "cool,  sparkling  streams,"9  in  which  they  bathed 
frequently,  either  as  a  religious  rite  or  for  the  purpose  of 
"seasoning"  the  body  and  rendering  it  indifferent  to  exposure. 

6  Ibid. 

7  John  Ridge  to  Albert  Gallatin,  1826.     Payne  Mss.  8. 

8  John  Ridge  to  Albert  Gallatin.     Payne  Mss.  8. 

9  Adair,  J.,  History  of  the  American  Indians,  pp.  224-226. 


10  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

"They  are  almost  as  impenetrable  to  cold  as  a  bar  of  steel," 
he  declares.10 

Their  villages  lay  in  four  main  groups  :X1  the  Lower  Settle- 
ments lying  upon  the  head  streams  of  the  Savannah;  the 
Middle  Settlements  on  the  Tennessee  and  its  southern  tribu- 
taries; the  Valley  Towns  west  of  them  between  two  ranges  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains;  and  the  Overhill  Settlements  on 
the  Little  Tennessee  between  the  Blue  Ridge  and  Holston. 
Besides  these  main  groups  were  scattered  towns  situated  in 
different  parts  of  the  Cherokee  country.  It  was  estimated  in 
1735  that  there  were  sixty-four  towns  and  villages,  "populous 
and  full  of  women  and  children,"12  with  about  sixteen  or  seven- 
teen thousand  souls  all  told,  over  six  thousand  of  whom  were 
warriors.  Each  village  had  its  council  house  and  its  outlying 
fields  of  maize,  beans  and  squashes,  the  common  property  of 
the  community.  The  head  man  of  the  village,  together  with 
certain  warriors  distinguished  for  prowess,  not  only  managed 
local  affairs  but  represented  the  village  at  the  General  Council 
of  the  Nation  usually  held13  at  Chota14  on  the  Tellico  River. 
A  certain  loose  tribal  unity  was  maintained  by  a  principal 
chief  and  by  certain  laws  or  regulations  by  which  every  member 
of  the  tribe  was  bound. 

To  summarize,  the  Cherokees,  by  virtue  of  their  location 
had  developed  an  artistic  temperament,  certain  physical  and 
mental  characteristics  and  a  form  of  religious  belief  in  keeping 
with  and  influenced  by  their  surroundings.  Because  of  this 
intimate  relation  their  attachment  to  their  country  was  exceed- 
ingly strong,  a  fact  important  in  the  explanation  of  their  later 
actions,  but  often  either  overlooked  or  disregarded  by  the  ever 
encroaching  whites. 

Contact  of  the  Cherokees  with  Europeans  dates  back  to  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  when  the  daring  and  adven- 
turous De   Soto  marching  northward   from  Tampa  Bay   and 

10  Ibid,  p.  226. 

11  Each  village  having  its  own  peculiar  dialect. 

12  Adair,  p.  227. 
18  Before  1785. 

"The  Ancient  peace  town  or  "City  of  Refuge." 


Early  History  of  the  Cherokees  11 

passing  over  "rough  and  high  hills"  arrived  in  the  land  of  the 
Cheraqui.  The  Spaniards  described  the  Indians  as  a  naked, 
lean  and  unwarlike  people  given  to  hospitalit}'  to  strangers. 
To  the  travellers  they  presented  baskets  of  berries  and  presents 
of  corn,  wild  turkeys  and  an  edible  species  of  small  dog  which 
latter  the  Cherokees  themselves  did  not  eat,  according  to  the 
Gentleman  of  Elvas.15 

From  time  to  time  the  Cherokees  met  Spanish  explorers  and 
English  and  French  settlers  from  whom  they  gradually  adopted 
such  civilized  arts  as  appealed  to  them.  That  they  so  long 
remained  conservative  to  European  ideas  and  appeared  to  dis- 
dain anything  alien  was  due  to  the  fact  that  there  was  so  little 
in  civilization  that  appealed  to  people  in  the  barbarous  stage, 
and  not  to  their  lack  of  intellectual  vigor.  Their  own  tools  and 
implements  were  so  admirably  suited  to  their  purposes  that 
they  did  not  feel  the  need  of  better  ones.  Fire  arms  proved  an 
exception.  The  Indian  learned  their  use  readily  for  by  them 
he  was  enabled  to  supply  the  growing  demand  of  furs,  the 
chief  article  of  trade  with  Europeans,  and  to  hold  his  own  with 
his  enemies.  By  1715  about  twelve  hundred  Cherokee  warriors 
were  supplied  with  guns,  and  a  few  years  later  the  governor  of 
South  Carolina  furnished  two  hundred  more  with  guns  and 
ammunition  on  condition  that  they  would  help  him  in  a  war 
upon  a  neighboring  tribe.16 

Before  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina  traders  began  dealing  with  the  Cherokees.  In 
1690  Cornelius  Daugherty,  a  Virginia  Irishman,  established 
himself  among  the  tribe  with  whom  he  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  He  was  followed  by  other  traders,  some  of  whom  were 
not  on  the  very  best  terms  with  the  aborigines,  due  chiefly  to 
their  custom  of  purchasing  or  capturing  Indians  to  be  sold  in 
the  settlements  or  to  the  West  Indies,  and  to  their  general 
conduct  toward  the  natives  which  was  described  as  sometimes 
"very  abuseful."17     Complaints  of  these  abuses   coming  from 

15  The  Gentleman  of  Elvas.  Publication  of  the  Hakluyt  Society  IX, 
pp.  52,  58,  64. 

18  Haywood,  Natural  and  Aboriginal  Tennessee,  p.  227.  Fire  arms  were 
first  introduced  among  them  about  1700. 

17  Hewat,  A.,  Historical  A  ccount  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Colonies 
of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  Vol.  I,  pp.  297,  298. 


12  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  Cherokees  to  Governor  Nicholson,  coupled  with  the  jealousy 
of  French  encroachments  upon  English  trade  with  the  Indians, 
caused  him  to  arrange  for  a  conference  of  chiefs  to  be  held  at 
Charleston  in  1721.  A  treaty  establishing  a  boundary  between 
the  Cherokees  and  the  settlement  was  agreed  upon;  a  chief 
was  designated  as  the  head  of  the  nation  to  represent  it  in  all 
dealings  with  the  Colonial  Government;  a  commissioner  was 
appointed  to  superintend  the  relation  of  the  colony  with  the 
Cherokees  and  a  small  cession  of  land  was  made,18  the  first  in 
the  long  list  that  was  to  follow. 

Nine  years  later  we  find  North  Carolina  commissioning  Sir 
Alexander  Cummings  to  arrange  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  the 
tribe.  After  a  preliminary  meeting  with  the  chiefs  on  the 
Hiwassee  in  the  Cherokee  country  he  conveyed  a  committee 
of  six  of  them,  bearing  the  crown  of  the  nation,  to  England 
where  after  a  visit  of  several  weeks  they  signed  the  treaty  of 
Dover.  The  treaty  provided  that  the  Cherokees  trade  with  no 
other  country  than  England,  and  that  none  but  Englishmen 
be  allowed  to  build  forts  or  cabins,  or  plant  corn  among  them.19 
In  return  for  these  concessions  the  chiefs  carried  home  a  gener- 
ous supply  of  paint,  a  few  pounds  of  beads  and  some  other 
equally  worthless  articles.  Flattered  by  the  courteous  treat- 
ment which  they  received  in  England  they  did  not  at  first 
realize  the  disproportionateness  of  the  bargain. 

These  two  treaties  were  but  the  beginning  of  land  cessions 
by  which,  year  after  year,  from  this  time  on,  under  one  pretext 
or  another,  the  aborigines  were  shorn  of  their  ancestral  domains 
and  found  themselves  powerless  to  prevent  it. 

In  1755,  a  treaty  and  purchase  of  land  were  again  negoti- 
ated by  South  Carolina.20  In  1756  North  Carolina  commis- 
sioned Hugh  Waddel  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  alliance  and  ces- 
sion which  was  followed  up  the  same  year  by  Governor  Glenn's 

18  Ibid;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation.  5th  Report  of  Bureau  of  Ethnology, 
p.  144. 

"Hewat,  A.,  Historical  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Colo- 
nies of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  Vol.  II,  pp.  3,  9,  11.  The  crown  of 
the  nation  consisted  of  five  eagle  tails  and  four  scalps.  It  is  otherwise 
known  as  the  "War  Bonnet." 

20  Ibid. 


Early  History  of  the  Cherokees  13 

chain  of  military  forts,  Fort  Prince  George  erected  on  the 
Savannah,  Fort  Monroe  170  miles  farther  down  the  river  and 
Fort  Loudon  on  the  Tennessee  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tellico.21 
In  1777  Cherokee  hostilities  were  put  down  with  a  heavy  hand 
by  the  combined  forces  from  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina  and  most  of  their  principal  towns  on  the  Ten- 
nessee destroyed.22  A  cession23  of  land  was  wrung  from  the 
Indians  which  proved  so  distasteful  to  the  Chicamauga  band 
that  they  refused  to  assent  to  it.  Moving  westward  they  settled 
the  "Five  Lower  Towns"  on  the  Tennessee,  among  which  was 
Lookout  Mountain  town  where  Daniel  Ross  came  so  near  losing 
his  life.  With  various  other  treaties  these  bring  us  to  the  end 
of  the  official  relations  of  the  Cherokees  with  Colonial  Govern- 
ment so  far  as  concerns  land  cession  and  to  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence and  the  formation  of  the  Confederation. 

The  mother  country  and  her  colonies  by  failing  at  the  outset 
to  adopt  a  definite  systematic  policy  of  justice  and  humanity 
towards  the  Indians  established  the  precedent  for  all  subsequent 
dealings  with  them.  Charters  and  patents  granted  by  England 
to  the  Colonies  neglected  to  give  due  consideration  to  the  prior 
claims  of  the  aboriginal  tribes.  The  colonies  left  their  course 
with  the  Indians  to  be  directed  by  circumstances.  Agents  and 
commissioners  were  given  a  free  hand  in  securing  land  cessions 
and  arranging  treaties.  Bribes  were  used  without  scruple  and 
chiefs  and  headmen  corrupted  by  every  available  means.  That 
any  advantage  which  might  be  taken  of  the  ignorance  and  mis- 
understanding of  natives  unfamiliar  with  the  English  language 
was  considered  legitimate  is  evident  to  any  one  familiar  with 
the  history  of  Indian  treaties.  Neither  governments  nor  indi- 
viduals considered  it  dishonest  to  cheat  an  Indian,  criminal  to 
rob  him  nor  murder  to  kill  him.  Any  attempt  to  protect  him  or 
to  teach  him  the  way  of  salvation  was  scarcely  deemed  meri- 
torious. That  amicable  relations  existed  at  all  between  the 
Indians  and  the  English  was  due  to  two  causes :  first,  the  few 
exceptional  white  men  who  looked  upon  the  savage  as  entitled 
to  the  same  justice  and  humanity  as  that  to  which  the  white 

21  Martin,  North  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  p.  87. 

aa American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  Vol.  I,  p.  431. 

23  A  t  Dewitt's  Corners;  Haywood's  History  of  Tennessee,  p.  451. 


14  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

man  is  entitled;  and  second,  to  the  increasing  proximity  of 
Spaniards  in  Florida  and  French  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  and 
on  the  Gulf  Coast,  bidding  for  Indian  trade.  These  the  English 
watched  with  jealous  eye,  dreading  not  only  the  loss  of  profit- 
able trade  but  the  hostility  of  the  natives  who  could  become 
formidable  enemies  at  the  very  back  doors  of  the  settlements. 
This  fear  caused  the  Colonists  to  adopt  a  conciliatory  policy 
toward  the  Cherokees  who,  responding  to  their  advances, 
formed  an  alliance  with  them  against  the  French.  In  the 
attack  upon  Fort  Duquesne  a  band  of  Cherokee  warriors  ren- 
dered valuable  service  to  the  English.  The  contemptuous 
attitude  of  British  and  Colonial  officers,  the  severe  military 
restraint  placed  upon  them,  suspicion  of  their  fidelity  together 
with  various  other  reasons,  caused  them  to  become  dissatisfied 
and  return  home.  Having  lost  their  horses  in  an  encounter  with 
the  French  and  being  fatigued  by  the  long  j  ourney ,  they  supplied 
themselves  with  mounts  from  a  herd  which  they  found  running 
at  large  on  the  frontier.  The  inhabitants  of  Virginia,  horrified 
at  this  act  of  horse  stealing,  attacked  the  warriors  on  their  way 
home  through  the  settlements  and  killed  forty  of  them.  An  act 
of  treachery  on  the  part  of  a  settler  who  invited  a  party  of 
Cherokees  to  his  house  in  order  that  they  might  be  surrounded 
and  shot  down  as  they  left  his  hospitable  roof  completed  the 
estrangement.  Ata-Kulla-Kulla,  a  prominent  chief,  calling  a 
council  of  war  declared  that  after  they  should  have  safely  con- 
ducted back  to  the  settlements  some  Englishmen  who  were 
among  them  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  a  treaty,  "the 
hatchet  shall  never  be  buried  until  the  blood  of  our  people  shall 
be  avenged."  "But  let  us  not  violate  our  faith,"  said  he,  "by 
shedding  the  blood  of  those  who  have  come  among  us  in  con- 
fidence bearing  belts  of  wampum  to  cement  a  perpetual  friend- 
ship. Let  us  carry  them  back  to  the  settlements  and  then  take 
up  the  hatchet  and  endeavor  to  exterminate  the  whole  race  of 
them."24  In  the  blood}'  war  which  followed  villages  were 
burned,  orchards  and  maize  fields  destroyed,  women  and  children 
murdered,  many  warriors  slain,  and  the  remaining  inhabitants 

^McKenney  &  Hall,  History  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America, 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  343  (1855). 


Early  History  of  the  Cherokees  15 

forced  to  take  refuge  in  the  caves  of  the  mountains  until  peace 
was  restored  by  the  humiliating  treaty  of  1760. 

The  tribe  had  not  fully  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this 
struggle  when  they  were  confronted  with  the  War  of  Independ- 
ence. Smarting  under  their  recent  defeat  and  resenting  the 
steady  encroachment  of  colonists  upon  their  hunting  grounds, 
they  promptly  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  British 
and  placed  their  warriors  at  the  service  of  King  George.  In 
the  border  warfare  which  followed,  Indians  and  whites  vied 
with  each  other  in  the  atrocity  of  their  deeds.  The  Cherokees, 
finally  completely  defeated,  were  forced  to  sue  for  peace  in  1785. 
By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Hopewell  which  followed,  Congress 
was  to  pass  laws  regulating  trade  with  them;  the  Cherokees 
were  allowed  to  send  a  delegate  to  Congress  and  no  whites  were 
to  be  suffered  to  settle  upon  Cherokee  lands.25  This  treaty  was 
unsatisfactory  to  Indians  and  whites  alike.  The  latter  paid 
scant  attention  to  the  article  forbidding  them  to  settle  on 
Indian  lands ;  the  natives  refused  to  submit  to  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  settlers  and  kept  them  terrified  by  sudden  raids  and 
bloody  massacres.  The  whites  retaliated  in  kind  and  this  con- 
dition of  affairs  kept  up  until  stopped  by  intervention  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  1790. 

As  early  as  1789  General  Knox,  Secretary  of  War,  called 
the  attention  of  President  Washington  to  the  disgraceful  vio- 
lation of  the  treaty  of  Hopewell  and  recommended  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  commission  to  look  into  the  matter  and,  if  need  be, 
negotiate  a  more  effective  treaty.26  In  August  of  the  next 
year  the  Senate  passed  a  resolution  providing  for  such  a  com- 
mission and  the  result  was  the  treaty  of  Holston  which,  in 
addition  to  settling  the  boundary  question,  gave  the  Federal 
Government  the  exclusive  right  to  trade  with  the  Cherokees, 
granted  an  annuity  of  $1000  and  promised  to  supply  imple- 
ments of  husbandry  and  send  four  persons  into  the  Cherokee 
Nation  to  act  as  interpreters.27 

An  Indian  agent  who  was  sent  to  see  that  the  policy  of  the 
treaty  was   carried   out  established   headquarters   on   the   Hi- 

25Amer.  State  Papers,  Indian  A  fairs,  Vol.  I,  p.  953. 

"Ibid,  p.  52. 

27  7   U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  62;  Cong.  Doc.  531,  No.  28,  p.   148. 


16  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

wassee  River  near  where  it  empties  into  the  Tennessee  and 
from  this  point  settled  disputes  between  the  whites  and  Chero- 
kees, enforced  intercourse  laws,  apportioned  annuities  and  dis- 
tributed plows,  hoes,  spinning  wheels,  cards  and  looms  among 
the  Indians  and  instructed  them  in  their  use.  Colonel  Silas 
Dinsmore,"8  who  was  agent  from  1796  to  1799  devoted  his 
energies  to  the  raising  of  cotton,  to  which  some  sections  of  the 
nation  were  excellently  well  suited.  Major  Lewis  succeeded 
him  and  was  succeeded  in  turn  by  R.  J.  Meigs,  an  old  Revolu- 
tionary soldier,  who  had  marched  to  Quebec  with  Arnold.  For 
twenty-two  years  he  served  as  Indian  agent  rendering  efficient 
and  intelligent  service  and  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  char- 
acter and  needs  of  the  Cherokees  which  made  him  authority  in 
their  affairs29  as  long  as  he  lived. 

This  new  policy  of  the  Federal  Government  gave  encour- 
agement, impetus  and  direction  to  the  progressive  spirit  already 
abroad  in  the  nation.  Notwithstanding  the  half  century  of 
intermittent  warfare  the  Cherokees  had  made  considerable  ad- 
vancement before  the  treaty  of  Holston.  Adair  states  that 
horses  had  been  introduced  among  them  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century  and  that  by  1760  they  had  a  prodigious  number  of 
them  and  they  were  of  excellent  quality.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  cattle,  hogs  and  poultry.  Sevier  on  his  expedition 
against  the  Coosatowns  in  1793  allowed  his  army  to  kill  three 
hundred  beeves  at  Etowah  and  leave  their  carcasses  rotting  on 
the  ground.30  Benjamin  Hawkins  while  travelling  through  the 
Cherokee  Nation  three  years  later  met  two  Indian  women  driv- 
ing ten  fat  cattle  to  the  settlements  to  sell.31  Indian  pork  was 
highly  esteemed  by  the  Colonists;  "At  the  fall  of  the  leaf" 
says  Adair,  "the  woods  are  full  of  hickory  nuts,  acorns,  chest- 
nuts and  the  like,  which  occasions  the  Indian  bacon  to  be  more 
streaked,  firm  and  better  tasted  than  any  we  met  with  in  the 
English  settlement."32  Baskets  were  made  by  the  women  and 
pottery  of  simple  though  pleasing  design  was  moulded  from 

28  Payne  Mss.  8,  Ridge  to  Gallatin,  1826;  also  Payne  Mss.  5,  extract 
from  Journals  of  the  Moravians. 

29  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  p.  231. 
^Mooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  82. 
31  Ibid. 

82  Adair,  p.  230. 


Early  History  of  the  Cherokees  17 

clay  and  glazed  by  holding  in  the  smoke  of  corn  meal  bran;33 
hunting  was  a  lucrative  occupation  of  the  men  until  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  a  party  of  traders  taking  home  at  one 
trip  thirty  wagon  loads  of  furs. 

By  their  geographic  position  and  superior  numbers,  the 
Cherokees  might  have  held  the  balance  of  power  in  the  south 
had  it  not  been  for  the  looseness  of  their  tribal  organization. 
The  first  attempt  to  weld  the  whole  nation  into  a  political  unit 
was  in  1736  when  Christian  Priber,  a  French  Jesuit,  went  to 
live  among  them  and,  by  promptly  adapting  himself  to  their 
language  and  dress,  won  their  confidence  to  such  an  extent  that 
he  was  able  to  induce  them  to  adopt  a  scheme  of  government 
which  he  drew  up,  modelled  on  the  French  monarchy,  with  the 
chief  medicine  man  as  emperor,  himself  as  secretary  of  state, 
and  Great  Tellico  as  the  national  capital.34  But  when  Priber 
was  arrested  by  the  authorities  of  North  Carolina  on  the  accu- 
sation of  being  a  secret  emissary  of  the  French,  this  scheme 
gradually  went  to  pieces.  It  was  seventy-two  years  later  that 
they  reorganized  their  government  and  adopted  their  first  code 
of  written  laws.  In  1808  the  Council  provided  for  the  organi- 
zation of  regulating  parties  to  maintain  order  in  the  nation, 
named  the  penalty  for  horse  stealing  and  declared  that  father- 
less children  should  inherit  the  father's  property  in  case  the 
mother  married  again.35  It  had  been  the  custom  among  the 
Cherokees,  time  out  of  mind,  to  transmit  from  father  to  son  the 
memory  of  the  loss  by  violence  of  relatives  or  members  of  the 
clan.  With  the  memory  also  was  transmitted  the  obligation 
to  revenge  the  loss.  "Who  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  the  clans- 
men of  the  deceased  shall  his  blood  be  shed,"  was  considered 
good  savage  ethics;  but  the  Cherokee  Nation  emerging  from 
barbarism  had  outgrown  this  ancient  custom,  and  in  1810  an 
act  of  oblivion  for  all  past  murder  was  passed  by  unanimous 
consent  of  the  seven  clans  in  council  at  Oostinaleh  ;36  pun- 
ishment was  taken  from  the  clan  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 

33  Payne  Mss.  6,  p.  61. 

34  Adair,  pp.  240,  243. 

35  Amer.  State  Papers,  Indian  A  fairs,  II,  p.  282. 

36  Ibid,  p.  283. 


18  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

General  Council.  The  later  development  in  government  will  be 
taken  up  and  treated  in  a  future  chapter. 

With  the  exception  of  the  work  done  by  Priber  and  the 
Federal  Government  no  outside  aid  had  been  given  the 
Cherokees  and  no  effort  was  made  to  civilize  or  Christianize 
them  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  A  writer  of  the 
times  declares  that,  "to  the  shame  of  the  Christian  name  no 
pains  have  ever  been  taken  to  convert  them  to  Christianity."37 
On  the  other  hand  their  morals  were  perverted  by  contact  with 
some  of  the  worst  vices  of  the  white  man:  chief  of  these  was  in- 
toxicating liquors,  which  wrought  sad  havoc  with  the  tribe  cor- 
rupting morals  and  government  until  strict  laws  were  passed  by 
the  Council  prohibiting  its  importation  under  a  penalty  of  for- 
feiture to  natives  and  forfeiture  and  a  fine  of  $100  for  outsiders. 
Indeed  it  has  proven  a  curse  and  a  blight  to  these  Indians  even 
down  to  the  present  generation. 

The  first  mission  station  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  was  estab- 
lished in  1801  by  the  Moravians  and  grew  out  of  a  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  Cherokees  to  educate  their  children  rather  than 
eagerness  to  embrace  a  new  religion.  This  peaceful  sect  of 
German  Christians  had  established  a  settlement  on  the  Upper 
Yadkin  about  1752.  During  the  Indian  Wars  Cherokee  chiefs 
who  had  been  hospitably  received  by  them  expressed  a  desire 
that  teachers  be  sent  to  their  people  and  the  evangelizing  of 
that  tribe  had  never  been  lost  sight  of  by  the  Brethren.38  In 
1799  two  missionaries  from  this  place  visited  the  Cherokees  to 
investigate  the  question.  As  a  result  the  next  year  a  Council 
was  held  at  Tellico  Agency  and  after  much  discussion  in  which 
considerable  opposition  was  expressed  permission  was  granted 
the  missionaries  to  start  a  school.  The  Rev.  Abraham  Steiner 
and  Gottlieb  Byham  began  to  hold  religious  services  in  the  home 
of  David  Vann,  a  mixed-blood  Cherokee  of  progressive  ideas, 
but  on  account  of  various  difficulties  the  school  was  not  started 
promptly.  At  the  Great  Council  held  at  Oostinaleh  a  few  miles 
distant,  it  was  declared  that  the  Cherokee  Nation  wanted  edu- 

^Mooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  38;  Carroll's  Hist,  Collections 
of  South  Carolina,  II,  pp.  97-8,  517  (1836). 

38  Thompson,  A.  C,  Moravian  Missions,  p.  341;  Amer.  State  Papers, 
Indian  Affairs,  I,  p.  282. 


Early  History  of  the  Cherokees  19 

cators,  not  theologians,  and  unless  the  missionaries  could  open 
a  school  within  six  months  they  should  leave  the  Nation.  With 
the  encouragement  of  Agent  Meigs  and  the  assistance  of  Vann 
and  Charles  Hicks  the  school  was  finally  built,  Vann  donating 
a  part  of  his  farm  as  a  location,  lodging  the  missionaries  while 
the  mission  was  building  and  lending  substantial  aid  in  the 
construction  of  the  house.  The  school  was  opened  in  due  time 
and  the  children  of  some  prominent  chiefs  soon  enrolled  as  stu- 
dents. In  1805  Reverend  and  Mrs.  John  Gambold  took  charge 
at  Spring  Place  where  they  remained  until  her  death  fifteen 
years  later. 

In  1804,  the  Presbyterians  followed  the  Moravians  and 
established  a  school  at  Maryville,  Tennessee,  with  the  Reverend 
Gideon  Blackburn  at  its  head,  while  the  American  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  established  in  181739  the  famous  Baptist 
School  at  Brainard  Mission  from  which  Missionary  Ridge 
took  its  name.  A  great  religious  revival  swept  over  the  country 
beginning  about  1818,40  but  up  to  this  time  there  were  re- 
markably few  conversions  to  the  Christian  religion,  those  of 
Catherine  Brown,  the  first  Cherokee  convert,  Margaret  Vann, 
wife  of  David  Vann,  and  Charles  Hicks,  later  to  become  for  a 
short  time  Principal  Chief  of  the  Nation,  being  the  most  notable. 

The  missionaries  worked  side  by  side  with  their  pupils 
their  instruction  being  thus  practical  as  well  as  theoretical  and 
industrial  as  well  as  religious.  They  in  this  way  gained  a  very 
strong  hold  upon  the  natives,  and  their  influence  among  them 
for  good  is  not  easily  estimated.  To  them  is  due  in  large  part 
the  splendid  school  system  which  the  Cherokees  were  able  to 
build  up  and  maintain  in  after  years  in  the  wilderness  beyond 
the  Mississippi. 

Intermarriage  of  the  Cherokees  with  Europeans  dates  back 
to  early  colonial  times.  Until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
it  was  confined  chiefly  to  white  men,  but  after  that  time  several 
white  women  married  into  the  tribe.  The  intermarried  white 
men  were  usually  traders  or  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  frontier 
forts  with  a  few  men  from  the  back  settlements  and  were  of 

39  Gude,  Mary  B.,  Georgia  and  the  Cherokees,  p.  24. 

40  Ibid,  p.  23. 


20  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

good  English,  Scotch,  Irish  or  Huguenot  stock.  The  Dougher- 
ties,  Vanns,  Rogers,  Gunters,  Wards  and  McDonalds  are  among 
their  descendants.  By  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  mixed  population  with  civilized  ideas  was  one  of  the  domi- 
nant political  forces  among  the  Cherokees  which  made  itself 
felt  in  the  reorganization  of  the  government  from  1808  to  1827. 
The  opening  of  highways  in  the  Indian  country  was  another 
tremendous  influence  for  civilization,  though,  like  most  other 
innovations  of  the  white  man,  they  were  bitterly  resented  by  the 
conservative  Indians.  But  by  1816,  however,  treaties  had 
been  arranged41  permitting  the  opening  of  all  roads  necessary 
for  intercourse  between  Tennessee,  Georgia,  and  the  territory 
lying  directly  west  of  them  for  the  convenience  of  travellers. 
For  the  same  purpose  general  stores  and  public  houses  of  enter- 
tainment were  built  at  intervals  along  these  roads  which  proved 
a  source  of  considerable  income  to  the  owners,  who  were  natives 
of  the  nation.  The  opening  of  highways  through  this  country 
brought  the  whole  nation  more  closely  in  touch  with  the  outside 
world  and  by  stimulating  trade  and  encouraging  the  accumu- 
lation of  property  prepared  the  way  for  further  developments.42 
Negro  slavery  also  had  its  part  in  the  history  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Cherokees.  The  first  of  the  slaves  were  run- 
away negroes  from  the  Virginia  and  Carolina  settlements  whom 
the  Indians  appropriated  to  their  own  use  in  cultivating  their 
fields.43  They  proved  so  profitable  that  others  were  bought 
from  the  settlers  from  time  to  time  and  slavery  gradually  be- 
came a  settled  institution  of  the  tribe.  In  their  relations  with 
their  slaves  it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  Cherokees  that  their  treat- 
ment of  them  was  so  humane  that  slaves  preferred  living  in 
the  nation  to  residence  in  the  United  States;  and  that  there 
was  rarely  ever  an  intermixture  of  Cherokee  and  African 
blood.44  In  1825  there  were  one  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  negro  slaves  in  the  Cherokee  Nation.45     By  their 

41  Cong.  Doc.  531,  No.  28,  p.  148;  Amer.  State  Papers,  Ind.  Af.,  I, 
p.  649;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians,  p.  187;  Amer.  State  Papers,  I, 
p.  698;  3  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  139. 

42  Morse,  Indian  Reports,  Hicks  to  Calhoun,  1822. 

"McKenney  &  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  331. 
"Amer.  State  Papers,  Indian  A  fairs,  II,  p.  651.  Letter  of  David  Brown. 
45  Ibid. 


Early  History  of  the  Cherokees  21 

lielp  farming,  especially  the  raising  of  cotton,  developed  more 
rapidly  than  it  would  have  done  under  native  labor,  and  more 
leisure  and  opportunity  for  culture  were  given  to  both  men  and 
women. 

The  beginning  of  the  westward  emigration  among  the 
Cherokees  is  shrouded  in  legend  and  tradition.  The  story  of 
the  Lost  Cherokees  indicates  that  a  part  of  the  tribe  migrated 
beyond  the  Father  of  Waters  at  a  very  early  time.  It  is 
probable  that  bands  of  hunters  visited  the  western  prairies  at 
intervals  before  the  discovery  of- America  by  Europeans.  Wars 
with  the  settlers,  discontent  over  land  cessions  and  intrusion 
of  whites  upon  their  domains  led  small  bands  to  migrate  into 
Spanish  territory  where  a  settlement  was  made  on  the  St. 
Francis  River  in  Arkansas  ;46  later  they  removed  to  a  tract  of 
land  between  the  Arkansas  and  the  White  Rivers,  and  in  1803 
came  under  the  control  of  the  Federal  Government. 

Jefferson,  in  order  to  validate  the  Louisiana  Purchase  and 
justify  himself  in  the  eyes  of  his  strict  construction  con- 
stituents, thinking  he  saw  light  in  the  direction  of  Indian  re- 
moval, drew  up  a  rough  draft  of  a  constitutional  amendment 
which  had  for  its  central  idea  the  removal  of  all  the  Indian 
tribes  to  the  newly  acquired  territory.47  On  his  recommenda- 
tion an  appropriation  of  $15,000  was  made  by  Congress  as 
the  preliminary  step  towards  bringing  about  this  result.48 
When,  in  1808,  a  delegation  of  Cherokees  was  about  to  visit 
Washington  to  ask  for  an  adjustment  of  their  differences  and 
a  more  equitable  distribution  of  annuities,  the  Secretary  of 
War  wrote  Agent  Meigs  to  embrace  every  occasion  for  sound- 
ing the  chiefs  on  the  subject  of  the  removal  of  the  whole 
tribe.49  A  considerable  difference  existed  at  this  time  between 
the  Upper  and  Lower  Cherokees ;  the  former  were  chiefly  farm- 
ers while  the  latter,  still  hunters,  were  beginning  to  feel 
themselves  hedged  in  by  the  narrowing  boundaries  of  their 
hunting  grounds.     Differences  of  opinion  growing  out  of  these 

46  Payne  Mss.  2,  71. 

47  Abel,  Indian  Consolidation,  Chap.  1. 

48  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians,  pp.  202,  203. 

•Indian  Office  Manuscript  Records,  Secretary  Dearborn  to  Agent 
Meigs,  March  25,  1808. 


22  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

differences  in  occupations  led  to  discontent.  In  May,  1808, 
a  delegation  of  Upper  Cherokees  arrived  in  Washington,  re- 
questing that  a  line  be  drawn  between  their  lands  and  those 
of  the  Lower  Cherokees,  that  their  lands  be  allotted  them  in 
severalty,  and  that  they  be  admitted  as  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  while  their  brethren  in  the  South  might  hunt  as  long 
as  the  game  lasted.  In  his  talk  with  them  Jefferson  encouraged 
removal,  but  informed  them  that  citizenship  could  not  be  con- 
ferred upon  them  except  by  Congress50  The  next  year  or  two 
the  idea  of  removal  seems  to  have  gained  favor  with  both  Upper 
and  Lower  Cherokees.  An  appropriation  having  been  made 
for  the  purpose  a  delegation  was  sent  out  to  investigate  the 
Arkansas  country  and  returned  with  such  favorable  reports 
that  a  large  number  was  prepared  to  move  at  once.  Jefferson 
went  out  of  office,  however,  before  anything  could  be  accom- 
plished and  Mr.  Madison  was  not  in  favor  of  removal  on  a 
large  scale.  Although  by  1817  between  2000  and  300051  had 
emigrated,  the  emigration  was  not  officially  countenanced  either 
by  the  United  States  or  their  own  Nation.52  Other  delegations 
went  to  Arkansas  in  1818  and  1819  and  still  later,  even  to 
within  a  short  time  before  the  New  Echota  Treaty  of  1835. 
These  Cherokees  constituted  what  were  later  called  Old  Settlers. 
In  this  way  there  came  to  be  a  Cherokee  Nation  East  and  a 
Cherokee  Nation  West. 

This  survey  of  Cherokee  history  will  furnish  a  partial  idea 
of  the  conditions  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  when  John  Ross,  was 
growing  to  manhood,  and  beginning  to  enter  upon  the  duties 
of  a  citizen  of  the  Cherokee  Nation. 

50  Jefferson's  Works,  Library  Edition,  XVI,  432-435. 

cl  Royce,  p.  204. 

52Amer.  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  II,  pp.  97,  125. 


CHAPTER  III 

John  Ross  Beginning  His  Public  Career 

It  chanced  that  John  Ross,  though  peculiarly  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  his  own  people,  the  Cherokees,  nevertheless  ren- 
dered his  first  public  services  to  the  Federal  Government,  as  the 
following  incidents  will  prove. 

During  the  years  just  preceding  the  War  of  1812  the 
Indian  question  assumed  unusual  importance  at  Washington. 
The  Southern  tribes  were  still  strong  enough,  if  united  by 
Tecumthe's  plan  of  a  Southern  Confederacy,  to  cause  con- 
siderable trouble  should  they  choose  to  renew  their  allegiance 
with  Great  Britain.  Frequent  reports  reached  the  War  Office 
that  agents  of  the  British  Government  were  arming  the  Indians 
of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Western  frontier  and  encouraging 
hostilities  to  the  United  States.1  A  war  with  England  and  an 
uprising  on  the  frontier  at  one  and  the  same  time  appeared 
doubly  embarrassing  to  a  government  poorly  equipped  for 
fighting  in  either  direction.  In  order  to  conciliate  the  Indians 
and  attach  them  as  strongly  as  possible  to  the  American  cause, 
the  Secretary  of  War  instructed  Indian  agents  to  promote  and 
maintain  friendly  relations  with  the  Indian  tribes2  and  at  the 
same  time  furnished  them  the  means  of  carrying  out  this  policy. 
Gifts  to  prominent  chiefs,  medals  for  services  to  the  Federal 
Government,  appointments  in  the  army,  a  friendly  interest  in 
their  tribal  affairs,  all  tended  to  have  the  desired  effect  upon 
the  Southern  tribes.  This  was  true  particularly  of  the  Chero- 
kees, whose  agent,  Colonel  R.  J.  Meigs,  was  one  of  the  wisest 
and  most  efficient  men  who  has  ever  served  the  United  States 
and  the  Indians  in  the  capacity  of  agent.  The  Eastern  Chero- 
kees were  enjoying  unprecedented  prosperity  and  were  rapidly 
taking  on  civilized  manners  and  customs;  consequently,  they 
favored  peace.  To  make  sure  of  the  band  in  Arkansas,  the 
agent  dispatched  an  interpreter  to  them  bearing  gifts  as 
peace  offerings.      The   interpreter,   alarmed  by   rumors   of  an 

1  Indian  A  fairs,  I,  797-804. 

2  Circular  letter  from  Department  of  War  to  Southern  Agents,  June 
20,  1805,  Indian  Office  Manuscript  Records. 


24  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

earthquake  at  New  Madrid,  returned  home.  Colonel  Meigs, 
thereupon,  asked  John  Ross,  then  a  young  man  about  nine- 
teen years  of  age,  to  undertake  the  mission.  On  Christmas 
day  he  set  out  from  Ross's  Landing  armed  with  additional 
gifts  and  accompanied  by  John  Spier,  a  half-breed,  Kalsatchee, 
an  aged  Cherokee,  and  Peter,  a  Mexican.  The  boat  which 
carried  the  party  was  a  rude  craft  entirely  unsuited  to  such 
a  journey.  Isaac  Brownlow,3  a  famous  frontiersman  of  his 
day,  swore,  on  meeting  the  party,  that  Colonel  Meigs  was 
either  stupid  or  careless  to  send  an  inexperienced  young  fellow 
on  a  long  expedition  in  such  a  plight.  He  accompanied  them 
eighty  miles  down  the  river  and  on  leaving  them  exchanged 
his  good  keel  boat  for  their  "clapboard  ark"  taking  an  order 
on  the  government  for  the  difference,  and  declaring  that  he 
would  rather  lose  his  boat  than  see  Ross  risk  making  the 
journey  as  he  had  started.  After  sixty  days  upon  the  rivers 
in  dead  of  winter,  chased  by  warlike  Indians  who  thought  they 
were  whites,  and  suspicious  settlers  who  thought  they  were  an 
Indian  party  on  mischief  bent,  they  wrecked  their  boat,  lost 
the  greater  part  of  their  baggage  and  were  compelled  to  finish 
the  way  on  foot.  Often  up  to  their  knees  in  mud  and  water 
and  with  only  such  game  as  they  could  kill  for  food,  they 
covered  the  remaining  two  hundred  miles  in  eight  days. 

From  start  to  finish  the  story  of  the  expedition  fairly 
bristles  with  stirring  adventures  and  hairbreadth  escapes;  it 
even  rivals  in  interest  that  of  the  American  hero  so  dear  to 
the  heart  of  every  schoolboy.  Late  in  April  the  party  reached 
Ross's  Landing  from  whence  they  had  started,  and  were  able 
in  a  short  time  after  to  report  to  Colonel  Meigs  at  the  agency 
the  success  of  the  expedition.4 

The  next  two  or  three  years  were  comparatively  unevent- 
ful ones  for  young  Ross,  spent  at  his  father's  home  at  Rossville5 
or  on  trading  trips  to  different  parts  of  the  Cherokee  Nation. 
These  trading  trips  gave  him  opportunity  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  conditions  of  the  country  and  brought  him  in  contact 

3  Brother  of  Parson  Brownlow,  both  well  known  in  Tennesse  in  their 
day. 

*McKenney  and  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  298 
(1870). 

5  Now  Chattanooga. 


John  Ross  Beginning  His  Public  Career  25 

with  many  of  the  more  backward  members  of  the  tribe  as 
well  as  with  leading  chiefs.  Always  quiet  and  unassuming 
and  always  scrupulously  honest  in  his  dealings,  he  won  con- 
fidence and  respect  wherever  he  was  known.  The  intimate 
knowledge  of  country  and  people  acquired  during  these  years 
was  destined  to  be  of  infinite  service  to  him  later  on. 

When  Tecumthe  made  his  tour  through  the  south  and  with 
his  burning  eloquence  and  his  "almanac  of  red  sticks"  tried  to 
fire  the  southern  tribe  to  revolt  against  the  United  States  he 
met  with  cool  courtesy  among  the  Cherokees.  A  few  of  the 
mountain  chiefs  expressed  a  desire  "to  dance  the  war  dance  of 
the  Indians  of  the  Lakes  and  sing  their  song,"  but  thanks  to 
the  influence  of  Major  Ridge,  a  progressive  and  influential 
chief  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  later,  the  war  spirit  was 
promptly  quenched  in  the  council  of  the  tribe.6  When  the 
General  Council  assembled  they  decided  that,  as  there  would  be 
more  loss  than  gain  to  them  from  an  alliance  with  either  of 
the  contending  parties,  they  would  remain  neutral.  Thereupon, 
the  Red  Sticks,  as  the  war  party  of  the  Creeks  was  called, 
perpetrated  outrages  upon  the  Cherokees  which  aroused  such 
indignation  among  the  young  warriors,  already  eager  to  test 
their  prowess  in  battle,  that  the  Council  abandoned  its  peace 
policy,  declared  war  upon  the  hostile  Creeks  and  placed  their 
forces  at  the  command  of  the  Federal  Government.  Between 
seven  hundred  and  eight  hundred  warriors  under  their  own 
officers  took  part  in  the  Creek  war  and  rendered  valuable 
services  to  the  American  cause. 

Ross  promptly  enlisted  in  a  regiment  raised  to  cooperate 
with  the  Tennessee  troops,  was  appointed  adjutant  and  set 
out  to  the  Creek  country  where  he  served  with  distinction  in 
several  engagements.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  battle 
of  Horse  Shoe  Bend,  where  it  was  undoubtedly  the  bravery 
and  daring  of  the  Cherokees  and  loyal  Creek  forces  that  won 
the  victory  for  General  Jackson  which  rendered  him  a  military 
hero  and  prepared  the  way  for  his  promotion,  a  few  years  later, 
to  the  highest  rank  in  the  American  army.     The  battle  took 

eMcKenney  and  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  93,  94  (1855). 


26  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

place  on  the  Tallipoosa  River  about  two  miles  from  the  site  of 
the  present  village  of  Tohopeka,  Alabama.  The  Creeks  had 
thrown  up  a  strong  fortification  of  logs  across  the  neck  of  the 
peninsula,  made  by  a  bend  in  the  river,  and  behind  it  about 
a  thousand  warriors  and  three  hundred  women  and  children 
had  taken  refuge.  Moored  to  the  river  bank  behind  them  were 
their  canoes  to  be  used  in  case  retreat  became  necessary.7  When 
it  was  found  that  General  Jackson  with  his  artillery  was  making 
no  headway  on  the  breastworks,  John  Ross,8  with  several  other 
Cherokees,  plunged  into  the  river,  swam  to  the  peninsula  at  the 
risk  of  their  lives  and  brought  off  the  canoes.  In  these  the 
Cherokee  forces  crossed  the  river  and  attacked  the  Creeks  in 
the  rear.  This  diverted  the  attention  of  the  Creeks  from  the 
front  and  Jackson  succeeded  in  storming  the  fort.  They  fought 
desperately,  but  were  cut  down  without  mercy.  Of  the  three 
hundred  who  survived  in  the  fort  only  three  were  men.  The 
defenders  of  the  Horse  Shoe  were  practically  exterminated. 
Some  of  the  Cherokees  lived  to  rue  the  part  they  took  in  this 
inhuman  massacre.  "If  I  had  known  Jackson  would  drive  us 
from  our  homes  I  would  have  killed  him  that  day  at  the  Horse 
Shoe,"9  said  Junaluska,  an  aged  chief,  many  years  after. 

On  his  mission  to  the  Western  Cherokees  Ross  had  shown 
energy,  tact,  prudence  and  perseverance  in  prosecuting  and 
bringing  to  a  successful  close  a  difficult  undertaking.  In  the 
Creek  war  he  had  proved  himself  a  fearless  soldier.  What  more 
was  needed  to  give  him  prestige  with  the  tribe  and  a  place 
among  the  foremost  men  of  the  Cherokee  Nation?  Moreover, 
he  was  a  man  of  education  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
time  and  could  meet  white  men  on  their  own  ground.  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  to  find  his  name  in  the  list  of  delegates 
who  went  up  to  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1816  to  protest 
against  the  action  of  commissioners  sent  to  carry  out  the  pro- 
visions of  the  treaty  of  Fort  Jackson  which  came  at  the  close 
of  the  Creek  war.  General  Jackson,  who  was  appointed  one 
of  the  commissioners  to  arrange  the  treaty,  showed  scant  con- 

7  Pickett's  Alabama,  pp.  58-591  (Reprint  of  1896). 

8  Congressional  Globe,  2nd  Session,  25th  Congress,  p.  404. 
8  Drake,  American  Indians,  p.  401. 


John  Ross  Beginning  His  Public  Career  27 

sidcration  to  the  loyal  Creeks  and  the  Cherokees.  From  the 
former  he  demanded  the  cession  of  the  Hickory  Grounds  com- 
prising more  than  half  the  territory  of  the  Creek  Nation  and 
when  they  demurred,  told  them  to  sign  the  treaty  or  join  their 
kinsmen  who  had  fled  to  Florida.  General  Coffee,  detailed  by 
General  Jackson  to  survey  the  lines  limiting  the  cession  on 
the  north  and  west,  encroached  upon  the  claims  of  the  Chero- 
kees. When  they  objected  he  promptly  made  a  private  con- 
tract with  Richard  Brown,  a  Cherokee  chief  through  whose 
village  the  lines  ran.10  The  Cherokees,  protesting  against  the 
action  of  the  commissioners,  sent  a  delegation  of  seven  men  to 
Washington  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  Secretary  of  War. 
Agent  Meigs  accompanied  them.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts 
of  General  Jackson  who  was  in  Washington  at  the  time  the 
delegation  arrived  to  prejudice  the  Secretary  of  War  against 
them,  they  secured  an  interview,  stated  their  case  and  convinced 
Mr.  Crawford  of  the  justice  of  their  claim.  The  result  was 
the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  of  Washington  in  which  the 
boundary  lines  were  satisfactorily  established  and  a  claim  of 
two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  damages  during  the 
Creek  war  was  allowed  the  Cherokees.11  General  Jackson  was 
greatly  chagrined  over  the  success  of  the  delegation  and  his 
intense  hatred  of  Crawford  is  said  to  date  from  this  incident.12 
He  was  naturally  no  friend  to  the  Indians,  though  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  accept  favors  from  them  when  occasion  arose,  and 
his  determination  to  rid  the  southern  states  of  them  was 
strengthened  by  his  temporary  embarrassment  and  humilia- 
tion. From  this  time  forward  he  and  his  friends  managed  to 
secure  more  and  more  of  the  Indian  patronage  and  their  in- 
fluence on  the  War  Department  tended  steadily  and  per- 
sistently towards  the  ultimate  aim,  removal. 

The  delegation  to  Washington  in  1816,  consisting  of 
Colonel  Lowrey,  Major  Walker,  Major  Ridge,  Adjutant  Ross 

10  To  these  proceedings  Gen.  Jackson  gave  such  eager  support  as  to 
cause  suspicion  that  he  and  Gen.  Coffee  were  personally  interested  in  the 
new  land.    Abel,  p.  279,  note. 

11  March  22,  1816.  7  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  139;  Indian  Treaties, 
pp.  185-187  (1837). 

12  Parton,  Life  of  Jackson,  p.  356. 


28  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

and  Cunnessee,  show  that  the  Cherokees  were  no  longer  a 
savage  nation  to  be  dealt  with  after  the  fashion  of  former  times. 
"These  men  are  men  of  cultivation  and  understanding,"  says 
the  National  Intelligencer  in  mentioning  their  arrival.  "Their 
appearance  and  deportment  are  such  as  to  entitle  them  to  re- 
spect and  attention."13 

The  fact  that  the  Indians  were  becoming  civilized  and 
showed  evidence  of  the  ability  to  develop  into  good  American 
citizens,  thereby  adding  strength  to  the  whole  American  nation, 
did  not  appeal  to*  politicians  who  coveted  Indian  lands.  In 
truth  this  class  of  men  opposed  any  policy  for  civilizing  the 
Indians,  since  it  would  tend  to  attach  them  more  firmly  to  the 
soil.  And  to  many  a  white  man  just  over  the  border  the 
Indian  country  was  the  promised  land  of  wealth  and  plenty 
which  he  hoped  some  day  to  possess.  If  the  delegates  returned 
home  with  the  belief  that  their  territorial  boundaries  were  per- 
manently fixed  they  were  soon  undeceived. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  the  Creek  war,  John  Ross,  in 
partnership  with  Timothy  Meigs,14  had  started  a  general  store 
at  Rossville,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1816  he  went  to  New  York 
to  buy  goods.  With  a  supply  of  deerskins  and  furs  for 
traffic  he  went  by  way  of  Savannah  to  New  York  and  Baltimore, 
where  he  bought  the  stock  of  shawls,  calicoes,  implements  and 
such  other  articles  as  were  in  demand  among  the  Cherokees  at 
this  time.  While  absent,  reports  reached  him  through  the  news- 
papers, of  a  commission  appointed  at  Washington  for  the  pur- 
pose of  negotiating  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  secure  their  consent  to  remove  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  Tennessee  contingent  in  Congress  had  been  urg- 
ing the  President  to  free  that  state  of  Indians.15  Governor 
McMinn  had  an  agent  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  all  winter  cam- 
paigning for  removal.  The  Arkansas  Cherokees  were  having 
trouble  with  the  Osages  and  the  Quapaws,16  as  no  definite  tract 

13  Niles'  Register  10,  p.  16. 

14  Son  of  Agent  Meigs.  He  died  soon  after  this  and  Mr.  Ross's  brother 
Lewis  succeeded  him  in  business. 

15  Abel,  Indian  Consolidation,  p.  280 ;  Crawford  to  Meigs,  May  27,  1816, 
Indian  Office  Letter  Manuscript  Records. 

M  Niles'  Register  13,  p.  74. 


John  Ross  Beginning  His  Public  Career  29 

of  land  had  been  assigned  to  them  nor  was  likely  to  be  without 
a  corresponding  cession  in  the  east.  They  appealed  to  Wash- 
ington. President  Monroe,  relying  upon  reports  sent  the  War 
Office  the  previous  summer  by  General  Jackson,  then  among  the 
southern  tribes,  concerning  the  willingness  of  the  Cherokees 
to  emigrate,  appointed  a  commission,17  which  was  to  meet  the 
Cherokees  at  the  Agency,  June  20,  1817.  The  Spring  Council 
of  the  Cherokees  met  in  May  at  Amohe.  The  news  of  the  im- 
pending negotiations  had  gone  abroad  and  men  and  women 
turned  out  in  full  force,  as  was  the  custom,  to  hear  the  dis- 
cussions in  the  council  and  perhaps  have  a  voice  in  them.18  Ross 
decided  to  attend  merely  as  an  observer.  At  Spring  Place  he 
met  Judge  Brown,  a  prominent  man  of  the  tribe  and  a  member 
of  the  National  Committee,  a  branch  of  the  Cherokee  legislative 
body.  As  they  rode  on  together  Judge  Brown  jestingly  re- 
marked that  they  were  going  to  put  Ross  in  purgatory  when 
he  arrived  at  Amohe.  When  the  young  merchant  expressed 
objections  to  such  a  fate  Judge  Brown  explained  that  he  meant 
they  were  going  to  run  him  for  a  member  of  the  National  Com- 
mittee. He  was  not  entirely  unprepared,  therefore,  when  soon 
after  the  council  was  convened  he  was  called  in  and  Major 
Ridge,  speaker  of  the  Council,  announced  to  him  that  he  had 
been  appointed  a  member  of  the  National  Committee.19 

The  discussions  in  the  council  revealed  strong  opposition, 
not  only  to  removal,  but  also  to  the  cession  of  any  more  land. 
"If  the  western  band  was  not  happy  where  they  were  let  them 
return  to  the  eastern  nation,"  was  an  argument  heard  on  all 
sides.  If  there  had  been  a  sentiment  for  removal  the  previous 
year  as  Jackson  had  affirmed,  there  was  no  evidence  of  it 
at  this  time.  When  the  commission  arrived  at  the  Agency, 
June  20,  only  representatives  from  Arkansas  were  present  to 
meet  them,  and  it  was  three  weeks  before  a  sufficient  representa- 
tion could  be  obtained  to  open  negotiations.  The  Arkansas 
members  who  had  everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose  were 

17  Composed  of  General  Jackson,  Governor  McMinn  and  General  Meri- 
vveather. 

18  The  chiefs  never  conclude  a  very  important  business  before  they  find 
out  the  popular  sentiment  of  their  people.  Agent  Meigs  to  Secretary  of 
War,  Nov.  8,  1816.    American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  II,  p.  117. 

wMcKennev  and  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  299 
(1870). 


30  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

graciously  compliant;  the  Eastern  Nation  firmly  opposed  re- 
moval or  a  cession  of  territory.  In  a  talk  which  he  made  to 
them  General  Jackson  took  the  ground  that  the  Cherokee  dele- 
gation of  1809  had  arranged  with  President  Jefferson  for  an 
exchange  of  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  for  lands  west 
of  it,  and  that  the  time  had  now  come  when  the  exchange  must 
be  made.  In  order  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  the  western  country 
so  as  to  prevent  white  people  from  settling  within  them  it  was 
necessary  for  all  who  expected  to  remove  at  any  future  time 
to  declare  it  now,  as  after  the  bounds  were  marked  and  the  lands 
laid  off  they  would  not  otherwise  be  allowed  to  settle  there. 
The  United  States  would  provide  the  means  for  removing  to 
those  who  wished  to  go  and  to  the  poorer  classes  would  furnish 
implements  of  husbandry,  arms  and  ammunition  for  hunting 
and  would  allow  them  reasonable  compensation  for  improve- 
ments. Those  who  preferred  to  remain  might  do  so  by  be- 
coming citizens  of  the  United  States.  "As  free  men  you  have 
now  to  make  your  choice,"  he  declared.  "Those  who  go  west 
go  to  a  country  belonging  to  the  United  States.  There  your 
father,  the  President,  can  never  be  urged  by  his  white  children 
to  ask  their  red  brothers,  the  Cherokees,  for  any  of  the  lands 
laid  off  at  that  place  for  them."  As  for  the  eastern  lands  he 
declared  that  the  right  of  possession  or  hunting  was  the  only 
right  guaranteed  to  the  Cherokee  Nation  by  former  treaties.20 
The  Cherokees  chose  Elijah  Hicks,  and  John  Ross  to  frame 
a  reply  to  the  commissioners.  Going  into  the  forest  they  drew 
up  a  memorial  with  careful  deliberation,  Ross  doing  the  writing. 
This  memorial  having  been  signed  by  sixty-seven  chiefs  was 
presented  by  the  council  to  General  Jackson.  It  stated  that  the 
great  body  of  the  Cherokees  desired  to  remain  in  the  land  of 
their  birth  where  they  were  rapidly  advancing  in  civilization. 
They  did  not  wish  to  revert  to  their  original  conditions  and 
surroundings.  They  prayed,  therefore,  that  the  question  of 
removal  be  pressed  no  farther  and  that  they  be  allowed  to  re- 
main peaceably  in  the  land  of  their  fathers.21  No  attention 
was  paid  to  the  memorial  and  a  treaty  prepared  by  General 

20  Jackson's  Talk  to  the  Cherokees,  1817.    Payne  Mss.  7,  31-44. 

21  Payne  Mss.  7,  p.  45. 


John  Ross  Begixxixg  His  Public  Career  31 

Jackson  was  signed  by  the  Arkansas  representation  and  by 
twenty-two  of  the  chiefs,  though  not  the  most  representative 
ones,  of  the  Eastern  Nation  who  were  susceptible  to  Jackson's 
influence. 

Great  preparations  were  promptly  started  to  incline  the 
Cherokees  to  removal.  A  special  agent  was  sent  to  assist  Mr. 
Meigs  and  when  the  work  still  did  not  go  fast  enough  to  suit 
Governor  McMinn,  he  himself  went  to  the  Nation  and  canvassed 
for  emigrants.  Although  bribes  passed  freely  and  intimidation 
was  unsparingly  used22  to  get  Indians  to  come  in  and  enroll 
for  removal,  the  governor  of  Tennessee,  who  was  notoriously 
self-interested  in  the  project,  was  doomed  to  disappointment 
in  the  final  results.  By  the  last  of  June  about  seven  hundred 
had  enrolled  and  several  boats  were  ready  to  descend  the  river 
bearing  them  to  the  western  country.23  But  they  did  not 
represent  the  sentiments  of  the  nation.  The  Cherokees  as  a 
body  were  opposed  to  emigration  and  as  the  summer  wore  away, 
hostility  towards  the  treaty  became  more  and  more  bitter. 
Those  who  enrolled  were  ostracized  and  in  some  cases  cruelly 
persecuted.  The  council  which  met  in  the  fall  deposed  and  de- 
prived of  any  further  authority  in  the  tribe  Toochelah,  the 
Second  Chief.  It  took  his  commission  from  him  and  appointed 
in  his  place  Charles  Hicks  a  leader  in  the  opposition  party. 
The  body  even  went  further  and  passed  the  resolution  that,  "We 
consider  ourselves  a  free  and  distinct  nation  and  the  National 
Government  has  no  polity  over  us  further  than  a  friendly  in- 
tercourse in  trade,"24  thus  setting  forth  the  earliest  formula- 
tion of  their  opinion  concerning  their  political  status,  a  ques- 
tion which  was  to  be  settled  more  than  a  decade  later  by  a 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.25 

So  active  was  the  opposition  to  the  treaty  that  when  a 
delegation  of  twelve  Cherokees  appeared  at  Washington  in 
181920  Secretary  Calhoun  entered  into  a  new  treaty  which  ef- 
fectually put  an  end  to   removal  for  the  time  being.     By  it 

22 Cong.  Doc,  98,  No.  127,  pp.  52-82   (18th  Cong.)- 
33  Niles'  Register  13,  p.  74,  Letter  of  Agent  Meigs. 

24  Exec.  Doc.  98,  No.    127,  p.  76. 

25  In  the  Case  of  Cherokee  Nation  vs.  Georgia. 
*  Niles'  Register  16,  p.   158. 


32  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  Cherokees  agreed  to  cede  to  the  United  States  a  tract  of 
land  at  least  as  extensive  as  that  to  which  it  was  entitled  under 
the  treaty  of  1817  and  consented  to  the  distribution  of  an- 
nuities in  the  proportion  of  two  to  one  in  favor  of  the  eastern 
nation;  the  United  States  agreed  to  dispense  with  taking  the 
census  of  the  treaty  of  1817,  and  obligated  itself  to  remove 
intruders  from  the  Cherokee  Nation.27 

John  Ross  was  a  member  of  this  delegation  and  faith- 
fully stood  guard  over  tribal,  as  opposed  to  personal,  interests. 
After  the  first  draft  of  a  treaty  had  been  arranged,  Major 
Walker,  one  of  the  delegation,  with  a  view  to  "feathering  his 
own  nest"  proposed  an  additional  grant  of  land  to  be  made  in 
such  a  way  as  to  benefit  him  personally  but  to  cause  distinct 
loss  to  the  Cherokee  Nation.  Ross  saw  through  this  scheme  and 
promptly  thwarted  it,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  Walker,  who, 
however,  said  nothing  at  the  time.  The  night  before  the  party 
was  to  leave  Washington,  Ross  was  writing  at  a  late  hour 
in  his  room  which  was  also  occupied  by  his  brother  Lewis  and 
James  Brown,  who  had  alread}r  retired.  Elijah  Hicks  occupied 
the  adjoining  room.  Judge  Martin,  another  member  of  the 
delegation,  seeing  a  light  in  the  room  as  he  returned  from  the 
theatre,  went  in  and  was  giving  Mr.  Ross  an  account  of  the  play 
when  suddenly  the  door  was  opened  and  in  rushed  Walker  with 
eyes  glaring  and  face  flushed,  a  brickbat  in  one  hand  and  a 
drawn  sword  in  the  other.  Rushing  upon  Ross  he  shouted,  "I 
am  come  to  whip  you !"  at  the  same  time  flinging  the  brick  at 
him  and  narrowly  missing  his  head.  Ross,  who  had  tilted  back 
in  his  chair  to  avoid  the  missile,  slipped  and  fell  just  as  Walker 
was  upon  him  with  his  sword.  Quick  as  a  flash  he  was  on  his 
feet,  knife  in  hand  ready  to  strike  blow  for  blow  when  both  men 
were  seized  and  separated  by  Judge  Martin  and  Lewis  Ross. 
Ross  was  thrust  through  the  door  into  the  next  room,  while  the 
drunken  Walker  was  hustled  off  to  his  own  quarters  and  put  to 
bed.  The  two  men  met  at  Baltimore  the  next  day,  but  neither 
then  nor  ever  after  mentioned  the  incident.  They  met  after- 
wards  as   if  nothing   had   happened   and    so   the   unfortunate 

27  7   United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  p.   195. 


John  Ross  Beginning  His  Public  Career  33 

affair  died  away.  Walker  from  then  on  drank  more  heavily  and 
gradually  lost  his  prestige  among  his  people.28 

The  Cherokees  now  earnestly  addressed  themselves  to  fur- 
ther national  improvements.  Their  hopes  and  ambitions  ran 
high.  In  a  circular  letter  to  the  adjoining  states  in  1813,  they 
declared  that  many  of  their  youth  of  both  sexes  "had  acquired 
such  knowledge  of  letters  as  to  show  the  most  incredulous  that 
our  mental  powers  are  not,  by  nature,  inferior  to  yours,  and 
we  look  forward  to  a  period  of  time  when  it  may  be  said  'this 
artist,  this  mathematician,  this  astronomer  is  a  Cherokee'  !"29 
There  was  an  increasing  desire  among  them  to  have  their  chil- 
dren educated.  The  treaty  of  1819  contained  a  provision  for 
a  reservation  of  land  twelve  miles  square  to  be  sold  by  the 
United  States,  the  proceeds  to  be  invested  by  the  President  in 
stocks  and  bonds  and  the  income  applied  in  the  manner  best 
calculated  to  promote  education  among  the  Cherokees  east  of 
the  Mississippi.30  In  1822  seven  Cherokee  boys  were  being 
educated  in  a  mission  school  at  Cornwall,  Connecticut.  Of  these 
John  Ridge,  Elias  Boudinot  and  Richard  Brown  were  to  play 
a  prominent  part  in  the  politics  of  their  nation. 

In  1817  missionary  activities  among  the  southern  tribes 
increased.  In  less  than  ten  years  they  had  eight  churches  and 
thirteen  schools  among  the  Cherokees.  These  schools  were  very 
well  attended.  Children  were  taught  not  only  reading,  arith- 
metic and  writing  but  also  the  agricultural  arts.  "In  the 
latter,"  says  one  who  visited  the  Cherokee  Nation  in  1818,  "the 
boys  take  the  different  branches  in  weekly  rotation;  and  on 
Monday  morning  such  as  are  to  turn  out  to  labor  are  called 
by  naming  their  avocations  of  labor,  as  plow  boys,  hoe  boys, 
axe  boys,  to  which  call  they  answer  and  appear  with  the 
greatest  cheerfulness  and  alacrity.      The  girls  are  taught  in 

28  Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  450. 

29  Niles'  Register  4,  p.  125. 
80  Niles'  Register  26,  p.  102. 


34  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

similar  method,  their  occupations  being  suited  to  their  sex. 
They  are  instructed  in  the  use  of  the  needle,  the  art  of  spin- 
ning, knitting  and  all  household  business  and  it  is  stated  that 
among  them  are  some  gentle  young  women  who  would  not  dis- 
grace more  polished  society."31  While  progress  in  the  academic 
branches  was  slow  at  first  the  industrial  training  met  with  eager 
interest  and  wrought  such  results  that  village  life  was  almost 
completely  abandoned,  the  inhabitants  scattering  out  and 
taking  up  farms.  As  the  land  was  held  in  common  a  farm  was 
in  reach  of  any  member  of  the  tribe  who  had  the  energy  to 
clear  it  and  put  it  in  cultivation.  By  1822  most  families 
cultivated  from  ten  to  forty  acres  and  raised  corn,  rye,  oats, 
wheat  and  cotton.  The  women  spun  and  wove  their  own  cotton 
and  woolen  cloth  and  blankets  and  knitted  all  the  stockings  used 
by  their  families.32 

By  1826  the  mass  of  the  Cherokees  lived  in  cabins,  some  of 
which  were  built  of  hewn  logs  and  were  floored  and  furnished 
with  chimneys,  while  well-to-do  slave  owners  built  comfortable 
two-story  houses,  some  of  which  were  really  elegant,  and  were 
living  in  much  the  same  style  as  the  white  planters  of  the 
same  economic  standing  in  the  south.  Except  in  remote  moun- 
tain regions,  the  hunting  shirt,  leggings  and  moccasins,  along 
with  old  customs  and  religion,  were  fast  disappearing  under 
the  influence  of  commerce,  education  and  missionary  zeal.  "It 
no  longer  remains  a  doubt,"  wrote  a  missionary  from  Brainard, 
Tennessee,  as  early  as  1812,  "whether  the  Indians  of  America 
can  be  civilized.  The  Cherokees  have  gone  too  far  in  the 
pleasant  paths  of  civilization  to  return  to  the  rough  and  un- 
beaten track  of  savage  life."33 

Political  advancement  kept  pace  with  economic  and  educa- 
tional progress.  By  1820  the  government  was  well  organized 
and  administered.  It  had  undergone  considerable  change  since 
its  organization  in  1808.  The  Light  Horse,  or  Regulators, 
provided  for  at  that  time  served  their  purpose  well  and  were  not 
dispensed  with  until  1825  when  district  officers  made  their  ser- 

81  Niles'  Register  14,  p.  390. 

82  Payne  Mss.  6  and  7;  Morse,  Indian  Report,  Hicks  to  Calhoun,  1822. 

83  Niles'  Register  20,  p.  102. 


John  Ross  Beginning  His  Public  Career  35 

vices  no  longer  necessary.  In  1815  the  Council  provided  for 
a  standing  committee  whose  business  it  was  at  first  to  look  after 
claims  and  adjust  financial  differences.  This  committee,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Council  of  Chiefs  for  two  years,  developed  into 
the  upper  house  of  the  legislature,  while  the  General  Council 
became  the  lower  house.  Thus  was  a  bicameral  system  worked 
out  by  an  aboriginal  tribe  groping  towards  the  light  of  a  civi- 
lized form  of  government.  The  former  body,  composed  of 
thirteen  members  including  its  president  with  a  clerk  to  record 
its  proceedings,  had  the  power,  as  it  was  later  developed,  to 
control  and  regulate  financial  affairs,  inspect  the  treasurer's 
books34  and  to  acknowledge  claims.  The  council  under  the  old 
system  had  been  large  and  the  responsibility  of  each  chief  tri- 
fling. In  1817  it  was  reorganized;  useless  members  were 
stricken  off  and  a  standing  body  of  legislators  was  created.  This 
body  was  to  assemble  in  October  of  each  year  at  New  Echota, 
hereafter  to  be  the  permanent  seat  of  government.  By  1826  it 
consisted  of  thirty-three  members  including  its  speaker.  It  had 
power  to  legislate  and  fill  vacancies  in  its  own  body  and  in  the 
committee.  The  principal  chief  and  second  chief  were  elected 
by  joint  ballot  of  both  houses.  In  1820  the  Council  determined 
to  divide  the  nation  in  eight  districts  in  each  of  which  was  lo- 
cated a  council  house  where  court  was  held  twice  yearly.  Dis- 
trict officers  administered  all  business  purely  local.  A  code  of 
laws  was  developed  regulating  taxes,  internal  improvements, 
the  payment  of  debts,  the  liquor  traffic  and  marriages;  the 
franchise  was  limited  to  Cherokee  citizens  and  punishments  were 
defined  for  crimes  and  misdemeanors.35 

In  1819,  on  the  removal  of  John  Mcintosh,  John  Ross  be- 
came president  of  the  National  Committee  which  position  he 
filled  successfully  for  eight  years.  With  other  prominent  and 
progressive  men  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  he  recognized  that  in 
order  to  realize  their  national  ambition  the  Cherokees  must 
maintain  their  tribal  unity  and  integrity.     In  order  to  prevent 

84  A  treasurer  was  first  appointed  in  1819  to  take  charge  of  annuities. 
Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  379. 

33  Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  379,  Letter  of  Ridge  to  Gallatin,  1826;  also,  Vols. 
6  and  7;  American  State  Papers,  Indian  A  fairs,  II,  279-283;  McKenney's 
Letter,  Ibid,  p.  657;  Drake's  Indians,  pp.  437,  438  (1880). 


36  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

a  repetition  of  the  treaty  of  1817  the  Council  adopted  a  reso- 
lution making  it  a  death  penalty  for  individuals  to  sign  a  treaty 
ceding  Cherokee  land.     Further  cession  must  be  made  by  the 
National  Committee  and  the  National  Council  acting  together. 
It  appears  that  in  1826  the  organization  of  the  government 
had  been  pretty  thoroughly  accomplished  and  the  tribe  was  not 
unprepared  for  the  next  step  which  was  taken  by  the  council 
in   its   resolution   providing   for   a   convention   to   draw   up   a 
written  constitution.     They  were  laying  large  plans  also  for 
I  improving  educational  facilities:  a  national  library  was  under 
*  contemplation  and  the  best  method  of  establishing  a  Cherokee 
national  school  system  was  being  discussed  by  such  Cherokee 
/citizens   as  Major  Ridge,  Major  Walker,  Elijah   Hicks,   the 
J  Vanns  and  the  Rosses,  all  considered  men  of  ability  and  refine- 
ment even  in  Washington. 

An  event  occurred  in  1821  which  profoundly  influenced  the 
whole  future  history  of  the  tribe.  A  young  mixed-blood  Chero- 
kee, known  among  the  whites  as  George  Guess  and  among  his 
own  people  as  Sikwayi,  invented  the  Cherokee  alphabet.  Of 
the  father  of  Sequoyah  very  little  is  definitely  known.  On  his 
mother's  side  he  was  of  good  family,  being  a  nephew  of  Oconos- 
tota,  a  famous  war  chief  of  pre-Revolutionary  times.  His 
early  youth  was  spent  at  Chota,36  the  ancient  peace  town  of  the 
Cherokees,  amid  the  bloody  scenes  of  Indian  wars  during  the 
Revolution.  He  never  attended  school  and  never  learned  to 
read,  write  or  speak  the  English  language.  Like  most  Indian 
youths  of  his  time  he  hunted  and  trapped  and  lived  a  wild,  free 
life  among  his  native  mountains  and  valleys.  Possessed  of  con- 
siderable mechanical  skill,  he  liked  especially  to  work  in  silver. 
When  about  forty  years  of  age  a  chance  conversation  called 
his  attention  to  the  white  man's  ability  to  communicate  thought 
by  means  of  writing.  Naturally  of  a  contemplative  turn  of 
mind  he  reflected  upon  the  possibility  of  working  out  a  similar 
system  for  his  own  people  and  finally  determined  to  attempt  it. 
After  years  of  patient  effort,  in  spite  of  repeated  failures  and 
the  discouragement  and  the  ridicule  of  friends  and  relatives, 
he  finally  evolved  a  Cherokee  syllabary,  which  was  so  simple 
and  so  remarkably  adapted  to  the  language  that  in  order  to 
86  Near  Fort  Loudon. 


John  Ross  Beginning  His  Public  Careee  37 

read  and  write  it  was  necessary  only  to  learn  the  eighty-six 
characters  of  which  it  was  composed.  The  mass  of  the  people 
immediately  recognized  its  possibilities  and  in  a  few  months 
thousands  who  could  not  speak  English  and  had  despaired  of 
acquiring  an  education  were  learning  to  read  and  write  in  their 
own  tongue.  With  one  accord  the  whole  Cherokee  Nation 
seemed  to  resolve  itself  into  a  great  Indian  academy,  old  men 
and  children  as  well  as  the  youth  and  the  middle-aged,  address- 
ing themselves  to  the  mastery  of  the  system.  As  soon  as  one 
had  learned  it  he  taught  another.  Thus  almost  every  fireside 
became  a  school  and  every  man,  woman  and  child,  either  teacher 
or  pupil.  Even  at  the  post  office,  in  the  public  houses,  or  by 
the  roadside,  instruction  was  given  and  received,  "so  that  with- 
in a  few  months  without  school  or  other  expense  of  time  or 
money,  the  Cherokees  were  able  to  read  and  write  in  their  own 
language."37 

When,  three  years  later,  by  an  act  of  the  National  Council, 
a  printing  press  was  set  up  at  New  Echota  and  the  Cherokee 
Phoenix,  a  weekly  paper  printed  in  both  English  and  Cherokee, 
was  started  with  Elias  Boudinot,  just  returned  from  school  in 
Cornwall,  Connecticut,  as  editor,  the  most  illiterate  members 
of  the  tribe  were  able  to  read  the  proceedings  of  their  legis- 
lative body  and  keep  in  touch  with  the  progress  of  their  na- 
tion. Soon  the  Bible  was  translated  into  Cherokee,  and  later 
hymn  books  and  textbooks  followed.  An  active  correspondence 
sprang  up  between  the  eastern  and  western  nations,  for  Se- 
quoyah had  a  true  missionary  zeal  and  carried  his  inventions 
to  Arkansas  where  he  took  up  his  permanent  abode  in  1823. 
In  the  fall  of  that  year,  the  Cherokee  Council,  in  recognition 
of  his  merits,  awarded  a  silver  medal  bearing  a  commemorative 
inscriptions  in  both  languages.38     The  president  of  the  National 

"McKenney  and  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  I,  p.  46  (1858). 

88  Indian  Treaties,  p.  425  (1837).  A  very  interesting  account  of  the 
life  of  Sequoyah  written  by  a  full-blood  Cherokee,  translated  into  English 
by  another  Cherokee  and  passed  upon  by  a  Committee  of  the  National 
Council  is  found  in  Payne  Mss.  2,  pp.  224-249. 

Other  accounts  are  found  in  Mooney's  Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  pp.  107- 
110;  Phillip's  Sequoyah,  Harper's  Magazine,  September,  1870,  pp.  542-548; 
Pilling,  J.  C,  Bibliography  of  Iroquois  Languages,  pp.  72,  73;  Foster, 
Sequoyah,  (1885). 


38  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Committee  was  commissioned  to  bear  this  token  of  regard  to 
him  and  once  more  John  Ross  crossed  the  Father  of  Waters 
and  journeyed  to  his  tribsmen  on  the  Arkansas.  While  his 
second  mission  was  not  attended  with  as  many  wild  adventures 
and  harrowing  experiences,  as  was  the  one  made  fourteen  years 
earlier,  it  was  full  of  interest  and  importance  as  it  gave  him 
opportunity  to  investigate  the  nature  of  the  country  and  the 
condition  of  the  people  in  the  territory  to  which  the  Federal 
Government  had  been  offering  many  inducements  to  the  Eastern 
Cherokees  to  remove.  That  his  impressions  of  the  country 
were  not  favorable  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  returned 
home  to  use  every  effort  for  strengthening  the  government  and 
welding  the  Cherokees  into  a  strong,  united  nation  in  order  that 
they  might  present  a  solid  front  of  resistance,  to  any  further 
project  for  removal. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Georgia's  Growing  Demand  for  Indian  Lands 

Georgia,  meanwhile,  as  her  population  increased  and 
spread  from  the  coast  plain  up  the  fertile  river  valleys,  year 
by  year  pushing  back  the  line  of  the  frontier  further  into  the 
highlands,  found  an  ever  growing  demand  on  the  part  of  her 
citizens  for  the  removal  of  the  aborigines.  The  Creeks  and 
Cherokees,  particularly,  they  regarded  as  serious  obstacles  to 
progress.  By  1823  demand  for  their  removal  from  the  state 
had  become  insistent.  The  Federal  Government  in  1802  had 
entered  into  an  agreement  with  Georgia  to  extinguish,  for  the 
use  of  Georgia,  the  Indian  title  to  land  lying  within  the  state 
as  soon  as  it  could  be  done  on  peaceable  and  reasonable  terms.1 
A  select  committee,  of  which  George  R.  Gilmer2  was  chairman, 
submitted  a  report  to  the  House  of  Representatives  on  Janu- 
ary 7,  1822,  on  the  question  whether  or  not  the  United  States 
was  keeping  her  part  of  the  compact.  It  was  the  opinion  of 
the  committee  that  she  was  not  so  doing.3  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  largest  Indian  cessions  had  been  obtained  in  other  states, 
where,  as  soon  as  the  natives  relinquished  their  title  to  the  land, 
it  became  part  of  the  public  domain.  Acting  on  the  report  of 
the  Gilmer  committee,  Congress  appropriated  $30,000  for  the 
extinguishment  of  Indian  land  titles  within  the  limit  of  Georgia4 
and  Calhoun  promptly  appointed  a  commissioner  to  negotiate 
with  the  Cherokees  for  a  cession  of  a  part  or  all  of  their 
eastern  land. 

The  Cherokee  Council,  hearing  of  this  action  of  Congress, 
passed  a  resolution  in  its  autumn  cession,  declaring  unanimously 
and  with  one  voice,  the  determination  to  hold  no  more  treaties 
with  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  making  cessions  of 
lands,  being  resolved  not  to  dispose  of  even  one  foot  of  ground. 
"But  upon  any  question,  not  relating  to  a  land  cession",  the 
resolution  stated,  "we  will  at  all  times  during  the  session  of 

1  Amer.  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  I,  p.  125. 

2  Later  governor  of  Georgia. 

8  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  II,  p.  257. 
4  3  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  688. 


40  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  National  Council  at  Echota,  Newtown,  receive  the  United 
States  commissioners  or  agents  with  friendship  and  cordiality 
and  will  ever  keep  bright  the  chain  of  peace  and  friendship 
which  links  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  the  Government  of  the 
United  States."5  The  Council  sent  copies  of  the  resolutions  to 
the  Secretary  of  War  and  to  the  commissioners  with  the  assur- 
ance that  it  would  be  entirely  useless  to  put  the  United  States 
to  the  trouble  and  expense  of  negotiating  another  treaty  of  ces- 
sion. The  commissioners  remonstrated  with  the  chiefs  and 
threatened  them  with  the  indignation  of  the  Great  Father  at 
Washington  who  would  shake  them  off  if  they  persisted  in  their 
obstinacy.6  So  determined  and  bitter  was  the  opposition,  how- 
ever, that  the  matter  was  allowed  to  rest  until  the  following 
year.  Meanwhile  a  vacancy  having  occurred  at  the  Cherokee 
agency,  the  Secretary  of  War  appointed  to  fill  it  Joseph 
McMinn  whose  advocacy  for  removal  was  well  known.  If 
prompted  to  this  course  by  the  expectation  that  the  Tennes- 
seean's  familiarity  with  Cherokee  affairs  would  prove  advan- 
tageous to  the  commissioners  in  negotiating  a  treaty,  Mr.  Cal- 
houn was  reckoning  amiss.  The  Cherokees  both  feared  and 
hated  the  ex-governor  for  his  disgraceful  part  in  the  treaties  of 
1817  and  1819. 

In  spite  of  the  Cherokee  resolutions  of  the  previous  year 
the  WTar  Department  was  so  optimistic  that  aversion  to  cession 
might  be  "conquered  by  a  little  perseverance  and  judicious 
management"7  that  it  allowed  the  Board  of  Commissioners  to 
be  provided  with  about  $35,000  to  aid  them  in  conducting  their 
negotiations.  The  Department  also  instructed  them  to  coop- 
erate with  commissioners  appointed  by  Georgia  to  press  claims 
of  that  state  arising  under  former  treaties,  and  to  proceed  to 
the  Cherokee  Nation  in  the  fall  of  1823.  The  Federal  Commis- 
sioners, Campbell  and  Meriweather,8  arrived  at  New  Echota 
October  4,  to  find  the  Cherokee  Council  in  regular  session  and 
representatives  from  Georgia  already  on  the  ground.     Agent 

6  Payne  Mss.  2,  pp.  501-503. 
8  Ibid,  p.  504. 

7  Abel,  Indian  Consolidation,  p.  324;  Indian  Office  Manuscript  Records, 
Calhoun   to   Campbell,   March    17, 

8  Both  Georgia  men. 


Georgia's  Growing  Demand  for  Indian  Lands         41 

McMinn  promptly  notified  the  Council  of  their  arrival  and 
was  informed  that  the  Grand  Council  was  disposed  to  receive 
and  be  introduced  to  the  Board  according  to  the  customs  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  Thereupon,  accompanied 
by  the  state  commissioners,  they  were  conducted  to  the  council 
house  and  presented  in  due  form  to  the  chiefs,  the  Council, 
and  the  committee  in  joint  session.  Major  Ridge,  speaker  of 
the  Council,  addressed  them  in  terms  of  congratulation  and 
friendship  and  was  answered  by  Mr.  Campbell,  who  paid  a  high 
compliment  to  Cherokee  civilization.  After  this  auspicious  be- 
ginning the  commissioners  showed  no  inclination  to  haste  in 
opening  formal  negotiations.  Time  and  deliberation  were  es- 
sential to  the  judicious  expenditure  of  the  appropriation 
placed  at  their  disposal  and  the  building  up  of  a  party  in  the 
Cherokee  Nation  favorable  to  cession.  This  last  could  be  done 
only  by  detaching  the  more  susceptible  chiefs  from  the  strong 
body  of  opposition  and  splitting  the  Council  into  factions.  It 
was,  therefore,  somewhat  to  their  discomfiture  when  they  were 
called  upon  by  the  President  of  the  Committee,  two  days  later, 
for  a  full  statement  of  their  instructions  from  the  President  of 
the  United  States  relating  to  their  business  with  the  Cherokees. 
After  some  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  formal 
negotiations  finally  began  and,  by  request  of  the  Cherokees,9 
were  conducted  by  both  sides  in  writing.  "A  novel  procedure", 
undoubtedly  it  was,  as  Mr.  Campbell  observed,  this  "corres- 
pondence in  writing  conducted  with  a  government  regularly 
organized,  composed  of  Indians."10 

The  negotiations  are  remarkable  for  two  things :  first,  the 
illogical  arguments  presented  by  the  representatives  of  the 
United  States ;  second,  the  ability  and  strength  with  which  the 
Cherokees  met  these  arguments  and  advanced  cogent  reasons 
why  a  further  cession  or  removal  could  not  be  considered  by 
them.  The  commissioners  urged  the  plea  that  the  white  people 
were  so  cramped  for  land  they  were  driven  from  friends  and 
connections  to   foreign  lands,  while  the   Cherokees  had  more 

•Payne  Mss.  2,  505.  Commissioner  Campbell  reported  to  the  Secretary 
of  War  that  it  was  the  desire  of  both  parties.  The  Cherokees  claimed  it 
was  at  their  request. 

10  Campbell  to  Calhoun,  Amer.  State  Papers,  Indian  A  fairs,  II,  p.  464. 


42  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

land  in  Georgia  than  they  needed;  this  was  unjust;  the  Great 
Father  of  the  universe  intended  the  earth  equally  for  his  white 
and  red  children.  The  Cherokees  replied  that,  as  to  the  in- 
tentions of  the  Great  Father,  they  did  not  know,  but  it  was 
quite  evident  that  neither  individual  nor  nation  had  ever  re- 
spected the  principle.  Meeting  the  arguments  for  removal, 
they  declared  that  the  unfortunate  part  of  the  tribe  which  had 
emigrated  to  the  west  had  suffered  severely  in  the  new  country 
from  sickness,  wars  and  other  calamities,  and  many  of  them 
would  return  if  they  could  do  so;  had  it  been  their  desire  to 
go  west  they  would  have  embraced  opportunities  formerly  of- 
fered them;  it  was  not  their  desire;  they  loved  the  soil  which 
had  given  them  birth  and  continued  to  nourish  them.  Pressed 
further  for  a  cession  of  land,  since  they  would  not  consider  re- 
moval, they  declared  that  the  limits  of  their  nation  were  small, 
embracing  mountains,  hills,  and  poor  lands  which  could  never 
be  cultivated;  the  Cherokees  had  once  possessed  an  extensive 
country ;  in  order  to  gratify  the  wishes  of  their  neighbors,  they 
had  granted  to  the  President  cession  after  cession,  until  their 
limits  had  become  circumscribed.  Experience  had  taught  them 
that  a  small  cession  would  never  satisfy  the  white  man.  There- 
fore they  had  come  to  the  unalterable  conclusion  never  to  part 
with  another  foot  of  land.11 

As  negotiations  proceeded  and  the  Cherokees  remained 
firm,  the  talk  of  the  commissioners  grew  harsh  and  threatening. 
They  denied  the  right  of  the  Indians  to  the  soil  they  inhabited 
claiming  that  it  had  been  forfeited  by  their  hostilities  to  the 
United  States  during  and  after  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
Jackson's  argument  of  1817,  that  the  Indians  were  tenants  at 
the  will  of  the  state  within  whose  boundaries  their  nation  lay,12 
was  then  renewed. 

But  arguments,  cajolery,  threats  and  bribery  proving  of 
no  avail  the  commissioners,  finally  reduced  to  desperation,  de- 
termined upon  a  keen  stroke  of  policy.  It  was  a  delicate  busi- 
ness to  be  handled  by  an  agent  of  rare  ability  and  skill.  A 
man  who  seemed  to  fill  all  the  requirements  was  found  in  the 

11  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  II,  468-69. 

12  Ibid. 


Georgia's  Growing  Demand  for  Indian  Lands         43 

person  of  William  Mcintosh,  a  Creek  chief.  He  enjoyed  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  the  Cherokees  who  called  him  Beloved 
Brother.  He  frequently  attended  their  councils,  where  he  was 
always  welcome,  and  occupied  the  "white  bench"  or  seat  of 
honor,  reserved  for  distinguished  guests.  He  really  occupied 
an  official  position  in  the  Cherokee  councils,  being  a  delegate 
from  the  Creek  Council  with  the  power  to  examine  into  and 
settle  controversies  arising  between  the  two  nations,  an  office 
established  during  earlier  times  when  the  southern  tribes13  had 
a  common  agent.  His  appearance  at  Echota  at  this  time, 
therefore,  would  excite  no  distrust  in  the  minds  of  the  Chero- 
kees, for,  although  it  was  generally  known  that  a  spirit  of 
peculation  was  abroad  among  the  Creeks,  no  suspicion  had 
as  yet  been  attached  to  General  Mcintosh. 

Council  had  been  in  session  about  three  weeks  when  a  mes- 
senger brought  word  that  General  Mcintosh  and  several  Creek 
chiefs  would  arrive  at  the  council  ground  the  following  day. 
Preparations  were  promptly  made  to  receive  them  with  suitable 
distinction.  Formal  greetings  and  congratulations  had  barely 
been  exchanged  when  the  purpose  of  the  delegation  was  re- 
vealed in  a  note1*  from  their  leader  to  John  Ross  asking,  in 
broken  English,  for  his  private  opinion  on  the  question  of 
a  treaty.  In  case  Ross  could  see  his  way  clear  to  favor  it, 
the  dusky  general  would  promise  to  make  the  commissioners 
give  him  $2000,  and  Isaac  McCoy15  and  Charles  Hicks,  each 
$2000  for  a  present.  And  "no  one  shall  know  it",  he  assured 
them.  He  then  added,  "I  will  get  you  the  amount  before  the 
treaty  is  signed,  and  if  you  have  any  friend  you  want  him  to 
receive,  he  shall  receive".  Mcintosh  himself  was  to  have  $7000 
for  his  services.16 

Upon  receipt  of  this  communication  Ross,  hastily  calling 
a  meeting  of  his  most  trusted  associates,  laid  the  case  before 
them.  Their  anger  and  surprise  were  equal  to  his  own.  After 
consultation  a  plan  of  action  was  determined  upon.  By  re- 
vealing the  plot  of  bribery  in  General  Council  in  such  way  as 

18  Cherokee,  Creek,  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws.     Payne  Mss  2,  p.  511. 
H  Bearing  date  of  Oct.  23. 
15  Clerk  of  the  Council. 
"  Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  513. 


44  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

to  completely  discredit  and  discountenance  both  the  Mcintosh 
party  and  the  commissioners  they  hoped  to  set  a  precedent 
for  a  high  standard  of  political  integrity,  for  the  Cherokees 
who,  in  times  past,  had  been  known  to  show  too  much  suscep- 
tibility to  bribery.  At  the  same  time  they  hoped  to  discourage 
any  further  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  se- 
cure cessions  of  land  from  them.  Prompt  action  was  taken  that 
very  evening.  Ridge  and  McCoy  had  a  confidential  talk  with 
the  unsuspecting  Mcintosh  to  ascertain  whether  the  course  he 
had  proposed  was  with  the  knowledge  and  sanction  of  the  com- 
missioners. They  found  that  it  was  with  their  knowledge  and 
sanction.  After  suggesting  that  the  Cherokees,  Creeks,  Choc- 
taws  and  Chickasaws  should  surrender  all  of  their  lands  east  of 
the  Mississippi  and  settle  in  the  west  under  one  government, 
Mcintosh  proposed  that  he  himself  attend  a  joint  session  of  the 
two  houses  and  address  them  in  favor  of  compliance  with  the 
propositions  of  the  commissioners.  He  then  added  that  he  was 
certain  that  if  the  Committee  would  fall  in  with  his  views  and 
say  that  they  despaired  of  being  able  to  hold  out  against  the 
United  States  the  old  Path  Killer  could  readily  be  brought  to 
yield.  He  concluded  b}r  trying  to  dazzle  them  with  an  account 
of  all  he  had  gained  by  former  treaties  both  for  himself  and 
others,  "all  knowledge  of  which  was  buried  in  oblivion".17 

The  Committee  in  secret  session  early  next  morning  resolved 
to  convene  both  houses  in  General  Council  that  day  on  "special 
and  important  business"  and  an  invitation  was  sent  General 
Mcintosh  to  attend.  He  was  received  with  the  usual  respect 
and  deference,  yet  seemed  ill  at  ease.  The  air  of  expectancy 
and  suppressed  excitement  which  prevailed  the  council  chamber 
seemed  to  warn  him  that  all  was  not  well.  The  meeting  having 
been  opened  by  Major  Ridge,  speaker  of  the  Council,  Mr.  Ross 
arose  to  explain  its  purpose.  He  began  by  reviewing  his  own 
past  services  and  obligations  to  the  Cherokees,  expressing 
his  appreciation  of  the  trust  and  confidence  with  which  his 
people  had  honored  him.  He  assured  them  their  trust  and 
confidence  had  been  sacredly  observed  for  he  considered  a  trai- 
tor more  despicable  than  the  meanest  reptile  that  crawls  upon 

17  Ibid 


Georgia's  Growing  Demand  for  Indian  Lands  45 

the  earth;  as  for  himself,  he  would  rather  live  in  the  direst 
poverty  than  to  have  his  reputation  sullied  by  the  acceptance 
of  a  bribe.  "It  has  now  become  my  duty,"  he  concluded,  "to 
inform  you  that  a  gross  contempt  is  offered  my  character  as 
well  as  that  of  the  General  Council.  This  letter  which  I  hold 
in  my  hand  will  speak  for  itself.  Fortunately  the  author  has 
mistaken  my  character  and  sense  of  honor."  Handing  the  let- 
ter to  the  clerk  of  the  Council,  he  took  his  seat. 

Over  the  council  house  there  fell  an  ominous  silence  which 
was  presently  broken  by  the  voice  of  the  clerk  who,  sentence  by 
sentence,  read  the  note  aloud,  and  interpreted  it  in  Cherokee 
in  order  that  everyone  present  might  understand  it.  When  it 
was  finished,  the  venerable  Path  Killer,  tall,  erect,  and  dignified, 
his  flashing  eye  alone  revealing  his  deep  emotion,  arose  to  ex- 
press his  grief  and  astonishment,  that  one  whom  he  had  trusted 
as  an  honest  chief,  and  loved  and  confided  in  as  a  brother  had 
been  willing  to  betray  his  brothers,  the  Cherokees,  for  a  hand- 
ful of  gold.  The  offense  could  not  be  condoned.  All  affection 
must  expire  before  such  a  breach  of  trust,  and  the  Couneil 
should  deal  with  him  as  the  traitor  he  had  proved  himself  to  be. 

By  the  time  the  aged  chief  had  finished,  the  full  significance 
of  the  situation  had  dawned  upon  the  discredited  chief  and  the 
outraged  Council.  The  former  rose  to  stammer  out  a  lame 
reply,  but  his  voice  was  drowned  by  angry  accusations  and 
harsh  epithets.  The  Council,  forthwith,  proceeded  to  pass  a 
resolution  deposing  Mcintosh  and  debarring  him  from  ever 
having  any  part  in  the  Cherokee  councils.  Taking  advantage 
of  the  excitement  aroused  by  the  dramatic  incidents  of  the 
morning,  the  discredited  chief  escaped  from  the  council  house, 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  in  hot  haste  from  the  scene  of  his 
disgrace.18 

A  communication  from  the  Cherokee  Council  to  the  Creek 
Nation  the  following  day  simply  states,  "The  commissioners 
have  this  day  departed  without  a  foot  of  land,  and  we  wish  you 
prosperity  in  all  your  national  concerns".19     Mr.  Campbell  re- 

18  A  full  account  of  the  Mcintosh  affair  is  given  in  Payne  Mss.  2, 
pp.   509-520. 

19  Payne  Mss.  7,  p.  61. 


46  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

ported  to  the  War  Office  the  failure  of  the  commissioners  to 
consummate  a  treaty,  merely  mentioning  the  fact  that  a  dele- 
gation of  Creeks  headed  by  General  Mcintosh  had  visited  them. 
He  added  that  the  prospect  of  securing  a  cession  from  the 
Creeks  was  more  favorable,  but  made  no  mention  of  the  Mcin- 
tosh incident.20 

Although  the  Cherokees  had  stood  by  their  determination 
to  part  with  no  more  land  the  incidents  of  the  past  few  weeks 
had  aroused  among  them  such  feelings  of  uncertainty  and  un- 
easiness that  the  Council,  before  adjourning,  appointed  a  dele- 
gation to  Washington  to  plead  with  the  President  personally 
against  further  requests  for  land  cessions. 

20  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  II,  p.  464. 


CHAPTER  V 

Georgia's  Hostility  to  the  Cherokees 

The  Cherokee  delegation,  composed  of  John  Ross,  Major 
Ridge,  George  Lowrey  and  Elijah  Hicks,  set  out  to  Washington 
promptly  on  the  adjournment  of  Council.  They  travelled  on 
horseback  carrying  whatever  was  necessary  to  the  journey  in 
saddlebags  strapped  behind  their  saddles.  The  trip  up  to  the 
capital  at  this  time  of  year  was  not  an  easy  one.  But  as  they 
rode  two  and  two  over  wind-swept  ridges  and  through  snow- 
covered  valleys,  or,  at  night,  sat  by  the  fire  of  the  wayside 
"public  stop",  they  never  tired  of  discussing  the  questions  of 
the  day,  particularly  those  which  concerned  the  welfare  of 
their  own  nation.  For  several  years  they  had  been  associated 
together  in  the  Cherokee  Council,  knew  each  other  well,  and 
trusted  each  other  implicitly.  They  were  all  men  of  affairs 
also,  and  although  one  of  them  could  not  read  or  write  in  Eng- 
lish, he  had  acquired  much  useful  information  and  was  keen  and 
astute  in  managing  the  political  affairs  of  his  people.1 
Ross  was  doubtless  the  best  educated  one  of  the  four.  Besides 
his  two  years'  experience  in  the  Academy  at  Maryville  he  had 
read  many  valuable  books  which  he  found  in  his  father's  library 
and  his  letters  prove  that  he  wrote  very  clearly,  though  his 
style  was  somewhat  formal  and  stilted.  As  to  personal  ap- 
pearance, they  all  possessed  the  independent,  dignified  bear- 
ing which  has  always  distinguished  Cherokee  men  reared  in  the 
mountains,  and  their  natural  politeness  and  courtesy  marked 
them  as  gentlemen,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  their  forbears, 
a  generation  or  two  before,  had  been  considered  savages.  The 
selection  of  these  men  to  represent  their  nation  in  its  plea  to 
the  Great  White  Father  at  Washington  undoubtedly  shows 
discrimination  and  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  tribe. 

Arriving  in  Washington  the  middle  of  January  the  dele- 
gation learned,  to  their  disappointment,  that  they  could  not 
confer  personally  with  the  President  but  that  any  business  which 
they  wished  to  transact  with  the  executive  must  pass  through 

1  Major  Ridge. 


48  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  War  Office.  When  they  presented  their  credentials  to 
Secretary  Calhoun  he  sounded  the  keynote  of  the  Federal  policy 
by  asking  them  if  they  had  come  to  make  a  further  cession  of 
land.  Their  answer  was  in  the  form  of  a  memorial  in  which 
they  earnestly  urged  that  their  nation  was  laboring  under  pe- 
culiar disadvantages  arising  from  the  repeated  appropriations 
of  Congress  to  hold  treaties  with  them;  such  action  retarded 
national  improvement  by  unsettling  the  minds  and  prospects  of 
the  citizens.  They  repeated  their  determination  to  part  with 
no  more  land,  as  the  limits  fixed  by  the  treaty  of  1819  left 
them  territory  barely  adequate  to  their  comfort  and  conven- 
ience; the  Cherokees  were  rapidly  increasing  in  population, 
rendering  it  the  duty  of  the  nation  to  preserve,  unimpaired  to 
posterity,  the  lands  of  their  ancestors.  For  these  reasons,  they 
asked  that  some  other  arrangement  be  made  whereby  Georgia's 
demand  for  land  might  be  satisfied.2 

The  Secretary  of  War,  in  reply,  laid  great  stress  upon  the 
Georgia  compact  and  upon  the  zealous  desire  of  the  President 
to  carry  it  out,  a  distinct  society  or  nation  within  the  limits 
of  a  state  being  "incompatible  with  our  system".3  He  then  set 
forth  in  glowing  terms  the  benefits  that  would  result  to  the 
Cherokees  from  an  exchange  of  their  country  for  one  beyond 
the  annoying  encroachments  of  civilization.  The  delegation  re- 
minded him  that  the  United  States  was  under  compact  to  ex- 
tinguish the  Indian  claims  only  on  peaceable  and  reasonable 
terms ;  as  for  incompatibility  with  the  system  of  the  United 
States,  the  Indians  were  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  country, 
and  were  not  willing  to  allow  the  sovereignty  of  any  state  with- 
in the  boundaries  of  their  domain;  they  had  never  promised  to 
cede  their  lands  to  the  Federal  Government,  but  it  had  guaran- 
teed the  land  to  them ;  they  were  not  yet  sufficiently  civilized 
to  cease  being  an  independent  community  and  become  a  terri- 
tory or  state  within  the  Union;  removal  would  at  least  retard 
their  advancement  in  civilization  since  it  would  take  them  some 
time  to  adjust  themselves  to  new  environments.4     The  Indians 

2  American  State  Papers,  Indian  A  fairs,  II,  p.  473;    Cong.  Doc.  91, 
No.  63. 

8  Third  Cong.  Doc.  91,  Sen.  Doc.  63. 

4  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  II,  p.  474. 


Georgia's  Hostility  to  the  Cherokees  49 

had  justice  and  logic  on  their  side  and  argued  their  case  so 
cogently  that  even  the  astute  Secretary  of  War  was  unable  to 
refute  them.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  President  copies  of  the 
correspondence  were  sent  to  the  Georgia  delegation  in  Congress 
and  to  George  M.  Troup,  Governor  of  the  state.  Troup  was  an 
extreme  state's  rights  man  who  represented  the  rich  planter 
population.  He  had  been  elected  governor  of  Georgia  with  the 
avowed  policy  of  ridding  the  state  of  Indian  occupancy. 

The  Georgia  congressmen  protested  against  the  diplomatic 
courtesy  shown  the  Indian  delegates,  and  complained  that  the 
civilizing  policy  of  the  United  States  tended  to  fasten  the  In- 
dians more  firmly  on  the  soil.5  The  hot-headed  governor,  after 
censuring  the  weak  and  dilatory  policy  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment towards  the  Indians  in  the  past,  and  accusing  the  white 
men  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  of  influencing  them  against  removal, 
declared  that  the  fee  simple  of  the  lands  lay  in  Georgia  and  that 
the  Indians  were  tenants  at  her  will;  Georgia  demanded  the 
removal  of  these  tenants  who  must  be  given  to  understand  that 
the  United  States,  at  the  expense  of  bloodshed,  must  assist 
Georgia  to  occupy  her  lands. 

President  Monroe,  in  his  message  March,  1824,  defended 
the  course  which  the  national  executive  had  pursued  towards 
the  Indians.  He  advocated  removal  beyond  the  Mississippi  but 
not  by  force,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Indian  title 
was  not  affected  by  the  Georgia  compact,  the  expression,  "at 
the  expense  of  the  United  States  as  long  as  the  same  can  be 
done  on  reasonable  terms",  being  full  proof  of  the  distinct  un- 
derstanding of  both  parties  to  the  compact.  The  Indians  had 
a  right,  he  thought,  to  the  territory  in  the  disposal  of  which 
they  were  to  be  considered  as  free  agents.6 

A  select  committee  from  the  House  of  Representatives,  of 
which  John  Forsythe  was  chairman,  reported  on  this  message 
April  15,  after  expressing  the  opinion  that  the  guarantee  of 
lands  before  1802  granted  occupancy  title  only,  and  resolved 
that  if  peaceable  acquisition  were  not  now  possible  the  Indians 
must  be  removed  by  force  or  the  United  States  obtain  from 

6  Niles'  Register  26,  275.     Hardin's  Life  of  George  M.  Troup,  206-218. 
6  Richardson's  Messages  of  the  Presidents',  II,  pp.  234-237. 


50  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Georgia  consent  to  some  other  plan;  otherwise  she  might  be 
put  in  the  position  of  either  seeing  the  Cherokees  annihilated 
or  defending  them  against  United  States  citizens.7 

Governor  Troup  was  provoked  to  a  fresh  outburst  of  wrath 
by  the  President's  message  and  by  the  discussions  in  Congress, 
but  when  a  fresh  appropriation  was  made  the  last  of  May  to 
extinguish  Indian  land  titles  in  Georgia8  he  quieted  down  for 
a  time,  confining  his  views  on  state's  rights  and  the  Indian  ques- 
tion to  the  state  legislature.  Here,  however,  he  hotly  declared 
that  "a  state  of  things  so  unnatural  and  fruitful  of  evil  as  an 
independent  government  of  a  semibarbarous  people  existing 
within  the  limits  of  a  state  could  not  long  continue,  and  wise 
counsel  must  direct  it,  that  relations  which  could  not  be  main- 
tained in  peace  should  be  dissolved  before  an  occasion  should 
occur  to  break  that  peace."9  In  his  message  of  1825  he  recom- 
mended the  legislature  to  adopt  energetic  measures  for  ridding 
the  Cherokee  Nation  of  all  white  people  excepting  only  such  as 
were  necessarily  employed  by  the  United  States  to  regulate 
commerce  with  the  tribe.  He  also  recommended  the  legislature 
to  extend  the  laws  of  Georgia  over  the  'Cherokee  Nation.10  The 
Cherokees,  however,  held  fast  to  their  contention  for  national 
rights  and  when  Georgia  attempted  to  send  surveyors  through 
their  nation  to  lay  out  the  course  of  a  canal  the  Council  re- 
fused to  permit  it.  "No  individual  state  shall  be  allowed  to 
make  internal  improvements  within  the  sovereign  limits  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation",  was  resolved  by  the  Council  of  1826.11  This 
exasperated  Governor  Troup,  who,  however,  was  forced  to  bide 
his  time,  his  attention,  at  this  time  being  more  particularly 
directed  towards  the  removal  of  the  Creeks  and  Seminoles. 

Thus  far,  it  would  seem  the  Cherokees  had  gained  the  best 
of  the  controversy.  With  firmness  and  determination  they  had 
maintained  their  right  to  the  soil  and  the  sovereignty  of  their 

7  Niles'  Register  26,  275-276. 

8  4   United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  36. 

8  Hardin's  Life  of  George  31.  Troup,  p.  469. 

10  Ibid,  pp.  411,  412. 

11  Pavne  Mss.  7. 


Georgia's  Hostility  to  the  Cherokees  51 

nation;  the  delegation  at  Washington  had  won  many  friends 
for  their  cause  in  Congress.  But  the  Cherokees  did  not  permit 
themselves  to  be  betrayed  by  overconfidence  in  the  security  of 
their  position.  They  were  keenly  conscious  that  the  ability 
to  maintain  their  position  depended  upon  their  own  alertness 
and  resourcefulness.  To  the  national  ambition  for  advancement 
was  now  added  a  more  powerful  incentive,  that  of  self-preser- 
vation. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Chejrokees  Adopt  a  Constitution 

Georgia  had  charged,  as  one  of  her  arguments  for  removal, 
that  the  Cherokees  were  a  semibarbarous  people  who  stood  in 
the  way  of  state  progress.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were 
almost  as  progressive  as  the  white  people  of  the  state  at  that 
time.1  According  to  a  report  made  to  the  War  Department 
by  the  Reverend  David  Brown,2  who  travelled  extensively 
through  the  Cherokee  Nation  in  the  fall  of  1825,  farming  and 
stock  raising  were  successfully  carried  on,  apple  and  peach 
orchards  were  common,  and  much  attention  was  paid  to  the 
cultivation  of  gardens.  Corn,  wheat,  oats,  and  tobacco  were 
raised  in  abundance  and  cotton  in  sufficient  quantities  to  sup- 
ply their  own  use  and  leave  a  considerable  surplus  to  be  shipped 
in  boats  of  their  own  make  to  New  Orleans.  Hides  and  live 
stock  sold  to  the  neighboring  states  brought  sufficient  currency 
into  the  nation.3  There  were  many  flourishing  villages  and 
the  numerous  roads  through  the  country  had  "public  stops'' 
kept  by  natives  at  convenient  intervals.  In  the  homes,  cotton 
and  woolen  cloth  and  blankets  and  coverlets  were  woven,  and 
stockings  and  gloves  knitted.  There  were  blacksmiths,  silver- 
smiths and  now  and  then  a  native  carpenter.4  Commercial  en- 
terprises were  being  extended,  and  nearly  all  the  merchants 
were  Cherokee  citizens.  Churches  and  schools  were  increasing 
and  plans  were  discussed  for  a  high  school,  a  library  and 
a  museum  to  be  established  and  maintained  at  the  expense 
of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  In  one  district  alone  there  were  re- 
ported to  be  upwards  of  a  thousand  volumes  of  good  books, 
while  eleven  periodicals,  political  and  religious  were  taken  and 

1  Payne  Mss.  2. 

2  Cong.  Doc.  138,  No.  124;  McKenney's  Report  of  1826;  Airier.  State 
Papers,  II,  p.  651. 

8  In  1826  there  were  22,000  cattle,  7,000  horses,  46,000  swine  and  25,000 
sheep.    Niles  30,  p.  145. 

*  Of  saw  mills  there  were  sixteen,  grist  mills,  thirty-one,  looms,  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-two,  cotton  mills,  eight,  and  ferries,  eighteen.    Ibid. 


The  Cherokees  Adopt  a  Constitution  53 

read.  It  is  doubtful  whether  in  the  surrounding  country  many 
groups  of  white  population  of  equal  number  could  have  shown 
a  better  record.  Stringent  laws  were  passed  against  drunken- 
ness and  the  introduction  of  intoxicating  liquors  into  the  nation 
and  indolence  was  frowned  upon.  The  government  was  well 
organized  and  administered,  while  the  revenue  was  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition.5 

Adherence  to  some  of  their  primitive  customs  in  govern- 
ment had  given  rise  to  the  accusation  that  they  were  uncivi- 
lized. In  order  to  disabuse  the  mind  of  Georgia  and  the  whole 
world  of  this  idea,  and  to  establish  a  firmer  political  foundation 
on  which  to  build  a  greater  Cherokee  Nation,  the  Cherokees 
determined  to  establish  a  regular  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment based  on  a  written  constitution.6  The  idea  is  said  to  have 
originated  with  John  Ross ;  it  is  probably  more  nearly  the 
truth  to  say  that  the  plan  was  wrought  out  by  the  four  men 
who  went  up  to  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1824.  Be  that 
as  it  may  a  resolution  passed  by  the  General  Council  in  the 
fall  of  1826  provided  for  a  constitutional  convention  to  meet 
July  4,  the  following  year  at  New  Echota.  On  July  1  dele- 
gates to  the  convention  were  elected  from  each  of  the  eight 
districts  into  which  the  nation  had  been  divided  in  1820.  Vot- 
ing was  conducted  viva  voce.  In  some  districts  interest  was  so 
great  that  the  election  "was  warm  and  closely  contested".7 
The  convention  met  and  organized  by  electing  John  Ross  chair- 
man. It  then  promptly  addressed  itself  to  the  business  of 
drafting  a  constitution.  This  document  is  closely  modeled  after 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and  differs  from  it  merely 
to  meet  the  needs  of  local  conditions.  The  most  striking  de- 
parture is  found  in  the  words  of  the  preamble,  "We,  the 
Cherokee  people,  constituting  one  of  the  sovereign  and  independ- 
ent nations  of  the  earth  and  having  complete  jurisdiction  over 
its  territory  to  the  exclusion  of  the  authority  of  any  other  state, 
do  ordain  this  constitution".8     The  executive  branch  of  the 

5  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  II,  651,  652. 

6  Cherokee  Phoenix,  February,  1828. 

7  Niles'  Register  32,  255. 

*Cony.  Doc.  273,  tfo.  91;  Payne  Mss.  2. 


54  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

government  was  to  be  composed  of  a  principal  and  a  second 
chief,  the  legislature  to  consist  of  a  National  Committee  com- 
posed of  two  representatives  from  each  district  and  a  Council 
composed  of  three,  both  branches  to  be  styled  "The  General 
Council  of  the  Cherokee  Nation".  The  judiciary  followed 
closely  that  outlined  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 
White  men  married  into  the  tribe  were  to  enjoy  all  the  privi- 
leges of  citizenship  except  the  right  to  hold  office,  and  land  was 
still  to  remain  the  common  property  of  the  nation,  improve- 
ments only  belonging  exclusively  and  indefeasibly  to  the  in- 
dividual citizen.  It  provided  religious  toleration  but  no  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  was  eligible  to  the  office  of  Principal  Chief 
or  to  a  seat  in  the  General  Council.9  All  the  provisions  for  a 
well  regulated  government  were  laid  down  in  much  detail  and 
an  Alabama  paper  commenting  upon  it  thought  the  document 
taken  as  a  whole  well  "calculated  to  produce  the  most  happy 
results.  The  success  of  the  Cherokees  will  stimulate  other  na- 
tions to  adopt  a  similar  policy;  and  we  may  yet  live  to  see  one 
take  after  another,  by  dropping  the  tomahawk  and  following 
the  example  set  them  rise  from  savage  barbarity  to  respecta- 
bility in  the  civilized  world".10  Three  weeks  later  this  con- 
stitution had  been  submitted  to  the  people  and  ratified.  When 
it  went  into  effect  the  following  year  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  the  Cherokees  had  begun.11 

Meanwhile  the  aged  Path  Killer,  leader  of  the  Conservative 
party,  died12  and  was  followed  in  office  by  the  second  chief, 
Charles  R.  Hicks,  who  outlived  him  less  than  two  weeks.  The 
government  then  devolved  upon  Major  Ridge,  speaker  of  the 
Council,  and  John  Ross,  president  of  the  Committee,  until  the 
regular  meeting  of  Council  the  following  fall. 

Major  Ridge,  at  this  time  one  of  the  most  prominent  men 
of  the  tribe,  was  a  full-blood  Cherokee  and  was  undoubtedly 
one  of  the  most  able  men  the  Cherokee  Nation  has  ever  produced. 
Handsome  and  commanding  in  appearance,  keen  and  alert  in 

9  Cherokee  Phoenix,  Feb.  28,  1828. 
10  Huntsville  Democrat,  in  Niles'  Register  33,  214. 
"Niles'  Register  32,  p.  214. 
"Jan.  8,  1827. 


The  Cherokees  Adopt  a  Constitution  55 

intellect,  broad-minded  and  public-spirited,  possessed  of  great 
strength  of  character  and  personal  magnetism,  he  was  a  natural 
leader  of  men.  By  the  sheer  force  of  his  native  ability  he  forged 
his  way  to  the  front  of  Cherokee  national  affairs,  where  for 
more  than  thirty  years  he  exercised  a  strong  influence  over  the 
policy  of  the  government.  Like  Sequoyah  he  had  had  no  school 
advantages  and  was  unable  to  read  or  write  in  English.  His 
signature  in  the  public  records  is  made  with  a  cross.  Realizing 
the  advantages  of  education  from  his  own  lack  of  it  he  en- 
couraged schools  in  the  nation  and  sent  his  son,  John  Ridge, 
to  be  educated  at  Cornwall,  Connecticut.  In  speaking  of  the  r 
work  of  the  missionaries  he  once  said  that  he  could  never  be 
thankful  enough  to  them  for  providing  a  way  for  his  son  to  t 
receive  an  education.  He  wished  him  to  stay  at  Cornwall  until  | 
he  got  a  "great  education" ;  he  hoped,  also,  that  the  Lord  would 
give  him  "a  good  heart"  so  that  when  he  came  home  he  might 
be  very  useful  to  the  nation.13  Since  1809,  when  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Agent  Meigs  a  delegation  had  been  appointed  to  go 
to  Washington  to  treat  for  an  exchange  of  lands,  he  had  stood 
firmly  and  consistently  opposed  to  removal.  He  was  at  this 
time  a  poor,  unknown  youth  and  this  was  his  first  attendance  at 
Council.  Nevertheless,  he  arose  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled 
chiefs,  an  unprecedented  thing  for  a  young  man  to  do  without 
invitation,  and  delivered  such  a  fiery  and  eloquent  appeal  to 
the  patriotism  of  the  Indians  that  the  project  was  promptly 
abandoned.14  For  John  Ross,  who  was  several  years  his  junior, 
he  cherished  a  strong  admiration  and  attachment  and  the 
younger  man  owed  much  of  his  rapid  political  advancement 
to  Major  Ridge. 

To  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Path  Killer  and  Charles  R. 
Hicks,  the  Council,  at  regular  session  in  the  fall  of  1827,  ap- 
pointed William  Hicks15  as  principal,  and  John  Ross  as  second 
chief.  Naturally  Hicks  was  fired  with  the  ambition  to  become 
chief  magistrate  of  the  new  government  which  went  into  effect 

13  Morse,  Indian  Reports,  p.  162. 

"McKenny  and  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  I,  p.  189  (1879)  ; 
Vol.  II,  pp.  77-106  (1885). 

15  This  is  said  to  have  been  done  out  of  respect  for  his  brother,  Charles 
Ri  Hicks,  who  was  for  many  years  the  most  influential  chief  of  the  tribe 
and  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  tribesmen. 


56  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

under  the  constitution  in  the  following  fall,  and  for  a  time  his 
prospects  seemed  fair  enough.  But  as  the  weeks  went  by  he 
was  frequently  seen  in  company  with  United  States  agents  and 
Georgia  citizens.  This  aroused  the  suspicion  of  the  Cherokees. 
A  rumor  went  abroad  that  he  was  being  tampered  with  and  that 
he  favored  emigration  and  the  sale  of  the  country.  This  pre- 
saged his  certain  defeat  and  his  friends  tried  to  save  him 
humiliation  by  persuading  him  to  withdraw  from  the  lists.  He 
would  not  listen  to  them  and  was  overwhelmingly  defeated  by 
John  Ross,  the  opposition  candidate  placed  in  the  field  just  be- 
fore the  election.  This  check  to  Hick's  ambition  so  embittered 
him  that  he  never  recovered  from  his  disappointment.  Every 
effort  was  made  to  win  him  back  to  himself  and  to  his  allegiance 
to  his  country,  but  the  himiliation  seemed  to  prey  upon  his  mind 
and  spirits.  Such  a  man  was  not  to  be  overlooked  by  design- 
ing white  men  seeking  an  entering  wedge  to  split  the  nation 
into  factions.16 

Ross  was  now  the  most  prominent  man  of  his  tribe  both  in 
the  Cherokee  Nation  and  out  of  it.  His  quiet,  pleasant  address, 
his  integrity  and  sincerity  of  character  together  with  his  re- 
markable powers  of  self-control  and  discretion,  which  made  him 
beloved  by  the  Cherokees,  won  for  him  also  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  the  missionaries  and  the  respect  of  statesmen  and 
philanthropists  in  the  north  as  well  as  of  Federal  officials  with 
whom  he  had  to  deal  in  the  Cherokee  Nation.  He  was  a  pros- 
perous merchant  and  planter  and  lived  in  the  style  befitting 
his  position.  His  wife,  a  full-blood  Cherokee,  known  by  her 
Indian  name  of  Quata,  was  a  woman  of  much  intelligence  and 
native  ability,  possessing  race  prejudice  and  considerable  influ- 
ence with  the  tribe.  From  Ross's  Landing  he  had  moved  to  the 
head  of  the  Coosa  River17  where  he  had  built  a  commodious  two- 
story  house  and  furnished  it  with  some  degree  of  luxury  and 
refined  taste.  Here  he  had  for  neighbors  Major  Ridge  who 
lived  two  miles  away  on  the  Coosa  in  a  substantial  and  com- 
fortable home.  John  Ridge,  whose  Connecticut  bride  had  in- 
sisted upon  casting  her  lot  with  her  husband's  people,  had  built 

16  Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  273. 
"Now  Rome,  Georgia. 


The  Cherokees  Adopt  a  Constitution  57 

a  home  not  far  distant  on  the  Two  Run  a  few  miles  east  of 
Oostinahleh.  Elias  Boudinot,  cousin  of  John  Ridge,  also  edu- 
cated in  Connecticut  and  the  first  editor  of  the  Cherokee  Phoe- 
nix, lived  at  New  Echota.18  The  treasurer  of  the  Cherokee  Na- 
tion, Major  Jack  Martin,  had  a  handsome  residence  with  carved 
mantels  and  marble  hearths  at  Rock  Springs.  It  is  still  stand- 
ing.19 James  Vann  had  built  a  two-story  brick  mansion  at 
Vann's  Spring  Place.  These  were  some  of  Ross's  friends  among 
the  wealthy  and  progressive  men  of  the  tribe. 

As  a  delegate  to  Washington  a  good  many  winters  Mr.  Ross 
had  come  in  contact  with  some  of  the  greatest  statesmen  and 
politicians  of  his  time.  He  was  a  close  and  keen  observer  of 
men  and  things  and  possessed,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  the  power 
of  interpreting  what  he  saw  and  heard  and  adapting  it  to  his 
own  and  his  nation's  need.  At  the  national  capital  he  had 
gained  much  knowledge  and  inspiration  which  he  was  eager  to 
put  into  practice  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  his  tribe. 
The  United  States  had  practically  recognized  the  Cherokee  Na- 
tion as  an  independent  nation ;  the  Cherokee  delegates  had  been 
accorded  diplomatic  courtesy  in  Washington;  the  tribe  had  an 
alphabet,  a  printing  press,  a  newspaper  and  a  written  con- 
stitution; industry  and  prosperity  were  in  evidence  through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of  their  domain.  Patriotism  was  at 
the  full  tide.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  young  Scotch  Cherokee 
chief,  fired  with  patriotic  ardor  and  ambition,  should  begin  to 
dream  dreams  and  see  visions  of  a  greater  Cherokee  Nation,  a 
republic  of  civilized  Indians  that  should  be  the  wonder  and  ad- 
miration of  the  world?  Whether  he  could  have  made  his  dreams 
come  true  had  he  been  left  to  work  out  the  plan  unmolested 
will  never  be  known. 

Georgia  thought  it  was  high  time  she  was  taking  a  hand 
when  an  independent  republic  was  being  set  up  with  the  intent 
to  perpetuate  a  distinct  community  within  her  ancient  and 
chartered  limits.  The  legislature,  December  27,  passed  a  reso- 
lution reasserting  that  the  title  of  the  Cherokees  to  the  land 
was  temporary  and  that  they  were  tenants  at  the  will  of  the 

18  His  wife  was  a  New  England  woman,  also. 

u  Gude,  Georgia  and  the  Cherokees,  p.  33.  It  is  known  as  the  home 
of  Colonel  Carter's  family. 


58  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

state  which  was  now  at  full  liberty  to  possess  herself,  by  any 
means  which  she  might  choose,  of  the  lands  in  dispute  and 
extend  over  them  her  authority  and  laws.  Georgia  would  give 
the  Federal  government  one  more  chance  to  rid  the  state  of 
Indians.  If  this  failed  the  next  legislature  was  urged  to  ex- 
tend the  jurisdiction  and  laws  of  the  state  over  their  territory.20 
Governor  Forsythe  sent  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  to  the 
President  and  included  one  of  the  "presumptuous"  constitu- 
tions just  adopted  by  the  Cherokee  Nation  asking  what  he 
proposed  to  do  about  the  erection  of  an  independent  govern- 
ment within  the  limits  of  the  state.21  In  March  the  House  of 
Representatives  took  up  the  question  and  instructed  the  judici- 
ary committee22  and  later  the  Indian  committee23  to  inquire 
into  the  circumstances  of  the  new  Cherokee  republic  and  report 
upon  the  expediency  of  arresting  its  designs. 

But  since  the  War  Department  was  negotiating  a  treaty 
with  the  Arkansas  Cherokees  whereby  their  territorial  limits 
were  readjusted  and  their  boundary  lines  permanently  settled24 
it  was  hoped  that  sufficient  inducement  might  be  held  out  to  the 
Eastern  Cherokees  to  emigrate.  The  Indian  appropriation  bill 
contained  a  specific  grant  for  $50,000  for  carrying  into  effect 
the  compact  of  1802. 2j  This  appropriation  stimulated  the 
Federal  Government  to  renewed  effort  and  Colonel  Montgomery, 
the  Indian  agent,  was  given  orders  to  provide  transportation, 
rifles  and  blankets  for  such  Cherokees  as  were  ready  to  go  west. 
Confidential  agents  were  sent  into  the  Cherokee  Nation  to  in- 
duce cession  or  emigration.  Captain  James  Rogers  was  em- 
ployed at  a  salary  of  $500  down  and  $500  more  if  he  succeeded 
to  go  among  the  Cherokees  and  "explain  to  them  the  kind  of 
soil,  the  climates,  and  prospects  that  awaited  them  in  the  west, 
and  to  use  in  his  discretion  the  best  methods  to  induce  the 
Indians23    to    emigrate.      Captain    Rogers    was    a    half-blood 

20  Acts  of  Georgia  Assembly,  1827,  p.  249. 

21  Niles'  Register  33,  p.  406. 

22  Gales  and  Seaton's  Register  Vol.  IV,  Part  I,  p.  914. 

23  Ibid,  p.  925. 

24  7  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  311,  May  6,  1828. 
23  4  U.  8.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  300,  May  9,  1828. 

26  Indian  Office  Letter  Books,  Series  II,  No.  5,  p.  33,  May  37,  1828; 
McKenney  to  Moymer;  Abel,  Indian  Consolidation,  p.  361. 


The  Cherokees  Adopt  a  Constitution  59 

Cherokee  of  considerable  intelligence.     For  various  reasons  his 
mission  proved  an  expensive  failure. 

When  the  Cherokee  Council  met  in  October,  1828,  it  im- 
mediately took  up  the  contentions  of  Georgia  and  answered  them 
so  ably  that  any  sentiment  for  removal  which  might  have  existed 
among  the  members  of  the  tribe  was  neutralized.27  Colonel 
Montgomery,  was  ordered  to  leave  his  office  in  charge  of  a  sub- 
agent  and  go  out  among  the  Indians  to  persuade  them  to  enroll 
for  emigration.  He  reported  such  strong  and  bitter  opposition 
however,  both  towards  the  agents  and  towards  the  Indians  who 
were  enrolling28  that  those  who  knew  the  situation  in  the  Chero- 
kee Nation  most  intimately  were  now  convinced  that  the  policy 
of  voluntary  removal  advocated  and  ably  defended  by  President 
Monroe  and  taken  over  by  President  Adams  was  a  lost  issue. 
Removal,  if  accomplished  at  all,  must  be  accomplished  by 
coercion.  In  the  presidential  election  of  1828  the  south  and  the 
west  rallied  to  the  support  of  a  presidential  candidate  from 
whom  they  had  every  reason  to  expect  a  change  of  tactics  if  he 
should  come  into  power  as  the  chief  executive  of  the  nation. 

27  Niles'  Register  35. 

28  Cong.  Doc.  186,  No.  95. 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Removal  Bill 

In  October,  1828,  Ross  entered  upon  his  duties  as  chief 
executive  of  the  Cherokee  republic.  Although  engrossed  with 
the  business  of  organizing  the  government  and  readjusting  the 
old  order  of  things  to  suit  the  new  conditions,  he  followed  with 
keen  interest  the  absorbing  question  of  the  day,  the  presiden- 
tial election,  which  held  such  portentous  possibilities  for  the 
Cherokee  Nation1.  Georgia  realized  these  possibilities,  and 
scarcely  a  month  had  elapsed  after  the  result  of  the  election 
was  known  when  her  legislature  passed  two  acts  intended  to 
paralyse  the  Cherokee  government.  The  first  added  Cherokee 
lands  to  certain  northwestern  counties  of  Georgia;  the  second 
extended  the  laws  of  the  state  over  these  lands  after  Janu- 
ary 1,  1830,2  the  Cherokee  laws  and  customs  to  be  null  there- 
after. 

The  Cherokees,  aglow  with  patriotic  pride  and  ambition, 
had  no  intention  of  submitting  to  such  humiliation.  The  Gen- 
eral Council,  in  session  at  New  Echota,  determined  to  appeal  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States  for  protection  against  the 
State.3  It  passed  a  resolution  declaring  the  Georgia  laws  null 
and  void  and  framed  a  memorial  to  the  national  executive 
protesting  against  that  state's  legislation,  contrasting  it  with 
her  profession  of  belief  in  the  liberty  and  rights  of  man.  The 
memorial  recalled  the  guarantee  of  the  United  States  to  the 
Cherokees ;  pleaded  that  the  Cherokees,  an  innocent  party  not 
responsible  for  the  compact  with  Georgia,  were  compelled  to 
suffer  for  it ;  called  attention  to  the  advancement  of  the  people 
due  largely  to  their  proximity  to  civilizing  influence,  insisted 
that  benefits  to  be  gained  by  removal  were  purely  visionary  and 
asked  the  President  to  protect  them  in  their  treaty  rights.4 

The  delegation  bearing  the  memorial  arrived  at  the  capital 
in  the  winter  of   1829  to   find  themselves   unable  to  get   any 

1  Cherokee  Phoenix,  August,  September  and  October,  1828. 

2  Dawson,  Compilation  of  the  Laws  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  1829,  29-198. 

3  Cherokee  Phoenix,  October,  1828. 

*  Cong.  Doc.  187,  No.  145 ;   Parker,  The  Cherokee  Indians,  p.  19. 


The  Removal  Bill  61 

satisfaction  from  the  retiring  administration.  Hoping  against 
hope  for  greater  success  in  dealing  with  an  executive  who  pro- 
claimed justice  his  cardinal  doctrine  they  determined  to  wait 
and  present  their  cause  to  President  Jackson.  They  attended 
the  inaugural  ceremonies  and  doubtless  it  filled  them  with  re- 
newed hope  to  hear  him  say  on  that  occasion  that  it  would  be 
his  sincere  and  constant  desire  to  observe  towards  the  Indians 
a  just  and  liberal  policy,  and  to  give  that  humane  and  con- 
siderate attention  to  their  rights  and  their  wants  which  was 
"consistent  with  the  habits  of  our  government  and  the  feelings 
of  the  people."5  The  last  clause  they  were  not  yet  prepared  to 
interpret  and  appreciate.  The  Georgia  contingent  in  Congress 
understood  it  better. 

More  than  a  month  wore  away  before  the  delegation  finally 
secured  a  hearing  with  the  Secretary  of  War.  Any  hopes 
which  the  President's  message  had  aroused  were  dispelled  by 
Major  Eaton  when,  on  April  18,  he  assured  them  that  no 
remedy    remained    for    their    troubles    but    removal.      If    they 

*  *  wanted  a  home...they  could  call  their  own  they  must  go  west,  for 
there  the  President  could  guarantee  the  soil  to  them  "as  long 

>  .•«,  as  trees  grow  and  waters  run."6  The  Cherokees  contended  that 
their  people  had  been  happy  and  prosperous  in  the  land  of 
their  fathers  and  that  removal  would  bring  retrogression  and 
disaster  upon  the  tribe;  they  did  not  want  to  move.  The 
executive  mind  was  made  up  just  as  firmly,  however,  and  in  May 
the  delegation  returned  home  to  report  the  result  of  their 
mission.7  Before  leaving  Washington,  they  had  been  encour- 
aged by  statesmen  of  the  north  and  east  to  believe  that  Congress 
at  its  next  session  would  come  to  their  relief.  An  extra  session 
of  Council,  called  to  hear  the  report  of  the  delegation,  there- 

5  Richardson's  Messages  of  the  Presidents,  II,  p.  438. 

6  Natchez  Statesman  and  Gazette,  June  29,  1829,  Niles'  Register  36, 
p.  258;  Payne  Mss.  2.  "If  you  will  go  to  the  setting  sun  there  you  will 
be  happy;  there  you  can  remain  in  peace  and  quietness;  so  long  as  the 
waters  run  and  the  oaks  grow  that  country  shall  be  guaranteed  to  you 
and  no  white  man  shall  be  permitted  to  settle  near  you."     Payne  Mss.  6. 

7  Cherokee  Phoenix,  May,  1828. 


62  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

fore,  drew  up  memorials  to  the  national  legislature,  praying  for 
relief  and  potection  on  the  ground  of  treaty  obligations. 

But  Congress  did  not  meet  for  several  months.  Meanwhile 
to  help  along  the  removal  project  the  President  determined  to 
send  a  secret  agent  among  the  Cherokees  and  the  Creeks  to  see 
what  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  securing  individual  acqui- 
escence with  the  view,  as  later  events  proved,  to  building  up  a 
party  favorable  to  removal  with  which  a  treaty  could  be  nego- 
tiated. He  selected  for  this  delicate  mission  General  William 
Carroll,  then  a  candidate  for  governor  of  Tennessee  and  a  man 
supposed  to  have  considerable  influence  with  the  Indians.  His 
instructions  to  conceal  from  even  the  chiefs  the  official  charac- 
ter he  carried  with  him,  and  the  suggestion  that  presents  to  the 
amount  of  not  more  than  $2000  be  distributed  to  the  poorer 
Indians,  the  chiefs'  children  and  even  the  chiefs  themselves  with 
the  object  of  attaching  them  to  him,8  indicate  the  trend  of  the 
administration  in  dealing  with  the  Indians.  General  Carroll 
went  to  the  Cherokee  Nation,  saw  the  conditions  there  and  re- 
ported to  the  War  Department  on  November  19  that  the 
Cherokees  were  too  intelligent  and  "too  well  posted  on  current 
news  of  the  day"  to  be  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  motives  and 
methods  of  those  who  came  among  them.  He  paid  a  high 
tribute  to  Cherokee  civilization  and  expressed  the  opinion  that 
they  were  encouraged  by  eastern  newspapers  to  believe  that 
the  people  did  not  support  the  President  in  his  views  on  removal, 
and  that  Congress,  at  the  next  session,  would  sustain  them  in 
their  protests  against  the  encroachments  of  Georgia.9 

That  was  enough  for  President  Jackson.  Determined  to 
forestall  the  Cherokees  and  their  friends  he  sent  a  message  to 
Congress  December  8,  in  which  he  advocated  Indian  removal  on 
the  ground  that  the  rights  of  a  sovereign  state  were  being 
interfered  with,  and  stated  in  reply  to  the  protest  of  the  Chero- 
kees against  the  extension  of  Georgia  laws  over  them,  that  the 
attempt  of  the  Indians  to  establish  an  independent  government 
in  Georgia  and  Alabama  would  not  be  countenanced.10 

8  Eaton's  Letters  of  Instruction  to  Carroll,  May  30,  1829.  Indian  Office 
Manuscript  Records. 

9  Ibid.    Carroll  to  Eaton.     November  19,  1829. 

10  Richardson's  Messages  of  the  Presidents,  II,  456-459. 


The  Removal  Bill  63 

Both  the  House  and  the  Senate  promptly  took  up  the 
question  and  all  through  the  winter  the  Removal  Bill  brought 
out  much  bitter  feeling  and  some  memorable  discussions  in 
defense  of  the  Indians.  In  the  Senate  it  was  the  main  topic  of 
discussion  in  the  committee  of  the  whole  for  three  weeks.  Fre- 
linghuysen  of  New  Jersey  and  Sprague  of  Maine  ably  opposed 
it  on  the  ground  of  the  binding  force  of  treaty  obligations,  and 
upon  general  principles  of  justice  and  humanity.  Forsythe  of 
Georgia,  McKinley  of  Alabama  and  White  of  Tennessee,  appeal- 
ing to  sectional  prejudice,  defended  it  on  the  theory  of  the 
state's  right  to  the  soil  within  its  limits.  In  the  House  the 
fallacy  of  pretending  to  remove  the  Indians  for  their  own  good 
from  a  community  where  they  had  comfortable  homes,  culti- 
vated fields,  churches  and  schools,  to  a  wilderness  where  they 
would  be  surrounded  by  savage  tribes,  was  exposed  by  Storrs 
of  New  York  in  a  speech  remarkable  for  its  logic  and  forensic 
power.  He  attacked  the  President  for  arrogating  to  himself 
authority  never  conferred  upon  him  in  presuming  to  deliver  to 
Congress  an  opinion  on  state  authority  and  for  seeking  to 
annul  treaties,  some  of  which  he  himself  had  negotiated.11 

As  the  discussions  in  the  national  legislature  revealed  the 
situation  of  the  Indians  the  indignation  of  the  country  at  large 
was  aroused  and  protests  poured  in  upon  Congress.  One  from 
Adams  County,  Pennsylvania,  praying  for  the  protection  of  the 
Indians  is  particularly  worthy  of  notice.  It  declared  that  the 
Cherokees  were  an  independent  nation  entitled  to  all  the  right 
of  such  except  so  far  as  surrendered  by  treaty.  The  treaties  of 
Hopewell  and  Holston  had  taken  place  before  the  compact  with 
Georgia  was  entered  into.  In  this  compact  Georgia  had  ex- 
plicity  acknowledged  the  existence  of  the  Indians  as  a  nation 
with  whom  the  United  States  were  to  hold  treaties  and  extin- 
guish their  title  as  soon  as  the  same  could  be  done  on  peaceable 
and  reasonable  terms,  and  by  such  acknowledgment  admitted 
the  validity  of  former  treaties  which  guaranteed  their  existence 
and  protection.  The  treaty  of  Hopewell  was  older  than  the 
constitution.       The     constitution    in    declaring    treaties     the 

11  Gales  and  Seaton's  Register,  Vol.  VI,  Part  II,  pp.  996-1003.  Index 
to  Senate  and  Bouse  Journals,  21st  Congress,  1st  session;  National  Intelli- 
gencer, May  24,  1838. 


64  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

supreme  law  of  the  land  directly  recognized  the  right  to  treat 
with  Indians  and  treaties  regularly  negotiated  with  them  were 
sacred  as  any  law  of  the  land.12 

In  spite  of  protests  and  hot  debate  the  Removal  Bill  passed 
in  May,13  and  was  promptly  signed  by  the  President.  It  was,  in 
the  words  of  Senator  Benton,  "one  of  the  closest  and  most 
earnestly  contested  questions  of  the  session  and  was  carried  by 
an  inconsiderable  majority."14 

A  new  complication  was  added  to  the  Cherokee  troubles  in 
July  1829  when  deposits  of  gold,  found  on  Ward's  Creek  in  the 
northwestern  part  of  the  nation,  caused  the  value  of  Cherokee 
land  to  increase  enormously.  Treasure  seekers  from  the  sur- 
rounding states  nocked  into  the  gold  region  in  such  numbers 
that  within  a  year  three  thousand  disorderly  white  men  were 
prospecting  for  the  precious  ore  on  Cherokee  soil.  They  found 
the  business  very  profitable.  Early  in  October,  1830,  the  New 
York  American  reported  that  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  gold  had  been  received  in  Augusta,  alone, 
during  the  last  nine  months;  and  Mr.  Templeton  Reid  was 
coining  and  stamping,  at  his  mint  in  Gainesville,  Georgia,  a  hun- 
dred dollars  of  gold  every  day.15  These  gold  diggers  were  in- 
truders operating  unlawfully  under  an  enactment  of  the  Chero- 
kee Nation  prohibiting  anyone  to  settle  or  trade  on  their  land 
without  a  permit  from  Cherokee  officials,  and  under  a  Federal 
intercourse  law  prohibiting  nyone  frm  settling  or  trading  on 
Indian  territory  without  a  special  license  from  the  proper 
United  States  authorities.16  The  gold  diggers  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  either  the  Cherokee  or  Federal  laws.  A  period  of  law- 
lessness prevailed  in  which  the  Cherokees  who  had  joined 
eagerly  in  prospecting  got  the  worst  of  the  bargain.  Governor 
Gilmer,  always  with  an  eye  single  to  the  interests  of  his  state, 
issued  a  proclamation  in  which  he  warned  all  persons,  even 
Indian  occupants,  from  trespassing  upon  Georgia  soil,  and  es- 

"■  Cong.  Doc.  208,  No.  90. 

13  4  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  411. 

"Benton's  Thirty  Years'  View,  I,  164. 

15  Niles'  Register  39,  p.  106. 

18  Georgia  had  declared  her  laws  would  go  into  effect  there  June  1,  1830. 


The  Removal  Bill  65 

pecially  from  taking  any  gold  or  silver  from  the  land.17  The 
Indians,  considering  that  they  had  a  right  to  do  what  they 
would  with  their  own,  paid  no  attention  to  the  proclamation. 
Thereupon  the  Georgia  authorities  arrested  and  roughly 
marched  them  off  to  prison.  The  United  States  troops,  sent 
into  the  country  in  1829  to  quell  the  tumult,  when  appealed  to, 
refused  to  give  the  Indians  any  protection  on  the  ground  that 
state  laws  were  not  to  be  interfered  with.18 

When  the  Georgia  legislature  convened  in  October  it  immedi- 
ately proceeded  to  pass  laws  for  the  gold  region.19  October  29, 
the  governor  wrote  to  the  President  asking  that  the  troops  be 
removed  since  Georgia  had  extended  her  jurisdiction  over  that 
region.  This  request  was  granted  and  the  troops  went  into 
winter  quarters  leaving  the  state  a  free  hand.20  The  legislature 
next  proceeded  to  establish  a  guard  of  sixty  men  stationed  at 
the  agency  to  keep  down  disorders  in  the  gold  region;  it  then 
passed  an  act  making  it  unlawful  for  the  Cherokee  Council  to 
meet  except  for  the  purpose  of  ceding  land,  while  a  penalty  of 
four  years'  imprisonment  was  fixed  for  Cherokee  judges  who 
presumed  to  hold  court.  The  same  law  provided  that  all  white 
persons  residing  in  the  Cherokee  country  on  March  1,  1831,  or 
thereafter,  without  a  license  from  the  governor  of  Georgia 
should  be  guilty  of  misdemeanor,  the  penalty  being  not  less 
than  four  years'  imprisonment ;  the  governor  was  allowed  to 
license  those  who  would  take  an  oath  to  support  and  defend  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  Georgia  and  to  demean  themselves 
uprightly  as  citizens  of  the  State.22 

Further  legislation  followed  in  the  next  few  years  providing 
for  the  mapping  out  of  the  Cherokee  territory  into  counties 
and  for  surveying  it  into  land  lots  of  160  acres  each  and  gold 
lots  of  forty  acres  each.  These  lots  were  put  up  and  distributed 
among  white  citizens  of  Georgia,  each  receiving  a  ticket.    While 

"Niks'  Register  38,  p.  328. 

18  Ibid,  38,  pp.  404,  405. 

19  Ibid,  39,  p.  106. 

20  Ibid  39,  p.  264. 

28  Prince's  Digest  of  the  Laws  of  Georgia  to  1837. 


66  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

each  Cherokee  was  allowed  a  reservation  of  160  acres  no  deed 
was  given  and  possession  of  it  depended  upon  the  pleasure  of 
the  state  legislature.  Contests  over  these  lottery  claims  were 
inevitable.  Provision  was  made  for  those  arising  among  white 
people.  A  law  forbidding  anyone  of  Indian  blood  to  bring  suit 
or  testify  against  a  white  man  made  it  impossible  for  the 
Indian  to  defend  his  rights  in  any  court  or  to  resist  the  seizure 
of  his  homestead  or  even  his  dwelling  house  under  penalty  of 
imprisonment  at  the  discretion  of  the  Georgia  courts.  Another 
law  making  invalid  any  contract  made  by  an  Indian  unless 
established  by  the  testimony  of  two  white  men  practically 
cancelled  all  debts  due  from  white  men  to  Indians.  The  purpose 
of  these  laws  was  not  far  to  seek.  Georgia  was  "building  fires 
around  the  Cherokees"  to  force  them  to  remove.  White  men 
who  entered  the  Cherokee  country  in  armed  bands,  called 
"Poney-clubs,"23  seized  horses  and  cattle  and  drove  them  off, 
ejected  families  from  their  homes  and  set  fire  to  their  houses, 
turning  the  occupants  out  in  bleak  weather  to  seek  shelter 
where  they  might.  These  were  but  some  of  the  atrocities  perpe- 
trated by  the  Georgians.  When  the  perpetrators  were  arrested 
and  brought  to  trial,  the  cases  were  dismissed  on  the  ground 
that  no  Indian  could  testify  against  a  white  man.24 

The  conscience  of  the  whole  country  was  aroused  as  the  situ- 
ation of  the  Indians  became  known.  Criticism  of  national  Ex- 
ecutive and  Legislature  became  too  uncomfortable  for  the  Presi- 
dent. He  had  intended  that  removal  should  be  accomplished  with 
less  notoriety.  Therefore  in  order  further  to  disable  them  and 
prevent  them  from  employing  attorneys,  sending  delegates  to 
Washington  and  publishing  the  Cherokee  Phoenix,  Jackson 
issued  instructions  through  the  War  Department  to  Indian 
agents  in  1830  that  henceforth  annuities  were  to  be  distributed 
among  families  and  individuals.25  The  annuity  was  a  sum  of 
money  paid  annually  by  the  United  States  to  the  Cherokees  in 
consideration  for  land  cessions  made  at  various  times  after  the 
treaty  of  Hopewell.    It  amounted  at  this  time  to  $10,000,  two- 

^Niles'  Register  40,  p.  132. 

24  Edward   Everett,   Speech   in   Senate,   April   16,    1830.     Peter   Force, 
Printer.     Niles'  Register  39,  pp.  179-180. 
85  Cong.  Doc.  208,  No.  102,  p.  2. 


The  Removal  Bill  67 

thirds  of  which  was  due  to  the  eastern  nation.  Since  1819  it 
had  been  turned  over  to  a  national  treasurer  elected  by  the 
tribe  and  used  for  the  support  of  the  government  and  for  other 
national  expenses.  As  a  per  capita  payment  it  amounted  to 
about  forty-two  cents,  a  sum  less  than  the  expense  of  a  trip  to 
the  agency  to  "draw"  it.  The  Cherokees  refused  to  receive  it 
in  this  fashion  and,  although  they  voted  time  after  time  that  it 
should  be  paid  in  the  usual  way  to  their  treasurer,  it  was 
withheld  and  allowed  to  accumulate  in  a  Nashville26  bank  for  five 
years  while  the  Council  was  forced  to  raise  loans  on  the  credit 
of  the  nation  and  to  issue  duebills  for  the  payment  of  salaries.27 
The  United  States  commissioners  used  the  annuities  as  a  pre- 
text for  assembling  the  tribe  for  the  purpose  of  urging  removal, 
much  to  their  inconvenience  and  annoyance. 

But  neither  the  withholding  of  annuities  nor  the  encroach- 
ment upon  their  territory  by  state  authority  facilitated  the  ob- 
ject aimed  at  by  Georgia.  The  Cherokees,  conscious  of  their 
rights  and  of  the  support  of  public  opinion,  refused  to  remove 
or  even  to  treat  for  a  small  cession  of  land. 

When  it  became  evident  that  the  object  of  Georgia's  hostile 
legislation,  the  Removal  Bill  and  the  President's  suspension  of 
annuities,  all  looked  toward  forcible  removal,  Chief  Ross,  acting 
on  the  suggestion  of  such  men  as  Webster  and  Frelinghuysen 
determined  to  appeal  for  redress  to  the  Supreme  Court.  He  em- 
ployed ex- Attorney  General  Wirt  and  Mr.  Sargeant  as  counsel, 
who,  in  January,  1831,  introduced  a  motion  before  the  Supreme 
Court  for  an  injunction  to  prevent  the  execution  of  the  objec- 
tionable laws  of  Georgia. 

This  motion  was  reached  on  the  docket  of  the  Supreme  Court 
early  in  March.28  The  bill  set  forth  the  complainant  to  be  the 
Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians,  a  foreign  state,  not  owing  alle- 
giance to  the  United  States,  nor  to  any  state  of  the  Union,  nor  to 
any  prince,  potentate  or  any  state  other  than  their  own ; 
renewed  the  various  treaties  between  them  and  the  United 
States  by  which  their  lands  were  guaranteed  to  them,  treaties 

28  Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  383;    Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  543. 

2T  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  529.    Statement  by  John  Ridge. 

28  March  5,  1831. 


68  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

which  the  Cherokees  had  always  faithfully  observed;  claimed 
for  themselves  the  benefit  of  the  clause  in  the  constitution  de- 
claring treaties  the  supreme  law  of  the  land;  complained  of 
the  violation  of  the  treaties  by  the  state  of  Georgia;  claimed 
the  protection  of  the  United  States  against  the  state  and  asked 
the  court  to  declare  null  and  void  the  laws  of  Georgia  which 
interfered  with  the  ancient  rights  and  privileges  of  the  tribe.29 
The  motion  for  injunction  was  denied  on  the  ground  that  the 
Cherokee  Nation  was  not  a  foreign  state  in  the  sense  of  the 
constitution  and  could  not  maintain  an  action  in  the  courts  of 
the  United  States,  Chief  Justice  Marshall  and  Justice  Story 
dissenting  from  the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  the  court. 

The  laws  of  1830  in  regard  to  white  persons  residing  in  the 
Cherokee  Nation  were  aimed  at  gold  diggers  and  intermarried 
white  men  suspected  of  encouraging  opposition  to  removal. 
But  a  week  after  the  passage  of  the  law,  the  whole  body  of 
missionaries  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  brought  themselves  under 
its  ban  by  holding  a  meeting  at  New  Echota  where  they  passed 
resolutions  exonerating  themselves  from  the  charge  of  meddling 
in  Indian  politics,  and  declaring  their  conviction  that  removal 
of  the  Indians  would  seriously  retard  their  progress  in  civiliza- 
tion and  that  the  extension  of  Georgia's  jurisdiction  would 
work  an  immense  and  irreparable  injury.  When  called  upon 
to  retract  or  leave  the  nation  they  refused  to  do  either,  where- 
upon Dr.  S.  A.  Worcester  and  J.  Thompson,  two  ordained  mis- 
sionaries and  Isaac  Procter,  a  teacher,  were  arrested  by  the 
Georgia  Guard,  chained  together  in  pairs  and  taken  to  head- 
quarters seventy  or  eighty  miles  away  with  considerable  mili- 
tary display  designed  to  impress  the  Indians.30  After  a  pre- 
liminary trial  they  were  dismised  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
agents  of  the  United  States  as  dispensers  of  the  civilization 
fund.31  Governor  Gilmer  dissented  from  the  opinion  of  the 
judge.  After  communicating  with  Secretary  Eaton,  he  found 
that  seven  of  the  nine  missionaries  residing  in  the  Cherokee 

29  The  Cherokee  Nation  vs.  Georgia,  Peters'  Supreme  Court  Reports, 
Vol.  5,  p.  1;  Niles'  Register  39,  pp.  31,  338,  339. 
30Niles   40,  p.   297. 
31  Missionary  Herald,  March,  1831,  Vol.  XXVII,  79-84;   Niles  40,  p.  132. 


The  Removal  Bill  69 

Nation  were  supported  entirely  by  the  American  Board32  and 
that  only  one  of  them,  Dr.  Worcester  who  was  postmaster  at 
New  Echota,  could  in  any  way  be  considered  an  agent  of  the 
United  States.  Dr.  Worcester  was  particularly  objectionable 
to  Georgia  because  of  his  connection  with  the  Cherokee  Phoenix 
which  had  published  a  number  of  articles  exposing  the  true 
situation  in  regard  to  removal  and  the  aggression  of  the  state, 
appealing  strongly  to  the  sympathy  of  the  North  and  East. 
He  was  at  once  deprived  of  his  secular  office  in  order  to  make 
him  fully  amenable  to  Georgia.  Thereupon  the  missionaries 
were  again  arrested  with  great  cruelty  and  brought  before  a 
Georgia  tribunal  where  Dr.  Worcester  and  Mr.  Elizur  Butler, 
refusing  to  accept  the  governor's  pardon  by  taking  an  oath  of 
citizenship,  were  sentenced  to  four  years'  hard  labor  in  the 
penitentiary  where  they  were  compelled  to  wear  prison  garb 
and  work  on  the  rock  pile.33  The  missionaries  with  Mr.  Wirt 
as  counsel  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  which  in  1832 
rendered  the  decision  declaring  unconstitutional  those  laws  by 
which  Georgia  had  extended  her  jurisdiction  over  Indian  terri- 
tory, and  the  one  under  which  Dr.  Worcester  was  indicted.34 
News  of  the  decision  reaching  the  Cherokees  late  in  March  was 
like  "a  shower  of  rain  on  thirsty  vegetation",35  says  Elijah 
Hicks.  The  feeling  of  depression  and  uncertainty  vanished  like 
the  mists  before  the  sun.  The  decision  was  celebrated  by  dances 
and  feasts.  The  young  people  were  merry,  the  older  ones  con- 
tented and*  happy.  Once  more  the  Cherokees  seemed  standing 
upon  a  solid  foundation.36 

Georgia  was  prepared  to  fight  rather  than  submit  to  this 
decision.  The  President  found  himself  in  a  dilemma  and  the 
whole  country  looked  on  to  see  what  he  would  do.  To  South 
Carolina  he  declared,  "the  laws  of  the  United  States  must  be 

32  The  Methodists  and  Moravians  had  recalled  their  missionaries.  The 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  had  left  their 
missionaries  to  decide  the  question  of  leaving  the  country  for  themselves. 

33  Payne  Mss.  7,  125-130. 
»  Kites  42,  pp.  40-56. 

35  Letter  of  Elijah  Hicks  to  a  friend  in  Washington,  March  26,  1832. 
Niles  42,  p.  201. 
86  Ibid. 


70  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

executed.  Those  who  told  you  that  you  might  peaceably  pre- 
vent their  execution  have  deceived  you.  Their  object  is  dis- 
union, and  disunion  by  armed  force  is  treason".  Mr.  Ross,  who, 
it  would  seem,  had  some  ground  for  hope,  confided  to  Council 
in  October,  1833,  that  since  the  Supreme  Court  had  decided  the 
Cherokee  case  favorably  and  the  President  had  declared  the 
supremacy  of  the  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
over  state  authority  there  was  every  reason  to  believe  that  he 
would  ultimately  enforce  the  treaties  and  intercourse  acts  for 
their  protection.37  "The  people  of  the  United  States  owe  Jack- 
son a  deep  debt  of  gratitude",  says  an  American  historian. 
"His  name — a  name  of  power  for  many  years  to  come — was 
joined  with  the  idea  of  union,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  consti- 
tution".38 It  was  the  supremacy  of  the  constitution  as  Presi- 
dent Jackson  chose  to  interpret  it,  however,  that  the  doughty 
general  would  defend  so  gallantly,  and  not  as  the  Supreme 
Court  interpreted  it.  The  highest  tribunal  of  the  land  had 
spoken  and  its  decision  had  been  a  victory  for  the  Cherokees 
and  for  justice.  The  chief  executive  of  the  United  States  is 
said  to  have  dismissed  the  subject  quite  cavalierly  with  the 
words,  "John  Marshall  has  made  his  decision,  now  let  him  en- 
force it".39  Verily  consistency  is  not  a  jewel  that  adorns  An- 
drew Jackson's  crown,  if,  perchance,  he  wears  one. 

87  Niles'  Register  45,  p.  127. 

38  McLaughlin's  History  of  American  Nation,  p.  328. 

39  Greeley's  American  Conflict,  I,  p.  106. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Factional  Strife 

The  temper  of  the  Scotch  Indian  chief,  already  severely 
tried,  was  yet  to  undergo  a  more  severe  test.  His  nation  had 
been  harassed  by  distractions  from  without.  It  now  came  to 
suffer  dissentions  within  the  body  politic. 

In  1828  Whitepath,  a  full-blood  of  the  conservative  type, 
had  headed  a  rebellion  against  the  new  government  and  against 
the  Christian  religion  which  was  at  this  time  winning  many 
converts.  The  Cherokee  government  succeeded  in  putting  it 
down  without  serious  trouble  or  bloodshed,  and  the  leaders  be- 
came reconciled  to  the  new  order  of  things,  Whitepath  becom- 
ing a  member  of  Council  under  the  constitution.  A  few  ir- 
reconcilables  remained,  however,  to  become  the  nucleus  of  a 
party  favorable  to  emigration.  William  Hicks  joined  them 
when  he  became  estranged  and  embittered  by  his  political  de- 
feat,1 and  used  what  influence  he  possessed  in  adding  recruits 
to  the  malcontents.  This  discontented  group  fell  a  ready  prey 
to  the  machinations  of  designing  white  men.  Benjamin  F. 
Curry,  sent  by  the  Federal  Government  at  the  dictation  of 
Georgia,  to  open  enrolling  agencies  in  the  Cherokee  Nation,2 
together  with  his  assistants,  all  Georgians,  had  lost  no  time  in 
making  friends  of  them.  Another  factor  was  added  to  the  situa- 
tion the  same  year  when  Wilson  Lumpkin  succeeded  to  the 
governorship  of  Georgia  with  the  fixed  determination  to  force 
removal.  Thoroughly  familiar  with  the  Indian  situation,  hav- 
ing spent  the  winter  of  1825-26  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  as  a 
member  of  the  board  of  public  works,  when  he  visited  and 
conversed  with  all  the  prominent  men  of  the  tribe,  he  had  al- 
ready laid  the  foundation  for  the  influence  he  was  prepared  to 
wield  for  removal.  Federal  and  state  officials  joined  forces, 
halting  at  no  means  or  method  to  accomplish  their  purpose. 
By  resorting  to  bribery  and  intrigue  the  most  disgraceful, 
and  manipulations  the  most  subtle,  they  succeeded  in  detaching 

1  Payne  Mss.  6;   Mooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokee*,  pp.  113,  114. 

2  Abel,  Indian  Consolidation,  p.  402. 


72  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

some  of  the  most  prominent  and  some  of  the  strongest  men  of 
the  Cherokee  Nation  from  their  own  government  and  building 
up  a  faction  favorable  to  removal.  The  factional  breach,  once 
started,  kept  growing  broader  and  the  removal  project  grew 
correspondingly  brighter. 

Georgia  had  anticipated  important  results  from  her  law 
forbidding  the  Cherokees  to  hold  assemblies  within  her  limits. 
Omission  of  the  Council  to  assemble  was  expected  completely  to 
demoralize  the  Cherokee  government  which  was  preparing  to 
appoint  a  new  delegation  to  Washington,  and  leave  its  citizens 
at  the  mercy  of  the  Federal  Government  and  the  state.  An 
attempt  to  meet  would  be  an  infringement  of  the  Georgia  law, 
and  would  give  the  Georgia  Guard  an  excuse  for  arresting  and 
hauling  off  to  prison  the  leaders  of  the  Cherokees.  Chiefs  Ross 
and  Hicks  were  in  favor  of  abiding  strictly  by  the  constitution 
and  holding  the  regular  session  of  the  Council  at  New  Echota, 
regardless  of  consequences.  They  were  overruled,  however,  in 
a  preliminary  meeting  of  the  Council  held  at  the  Ross  home, 
the  argument  prevailing  that  they  would  inevitably  be  attacked 
by  the  Georgia  Guard,  and  as  the  people  would  not  see  their 
chiefs  and  representatives  dragged  away  ignominously  without 
resistance,  the  consequences  would  be  disastrous.3  Chatooga, 
Alabama,  an  old  camp  meeting  ground,  was  chosen  as  the  meet- 
ing place  of  the  General  Council  of  1831.  Here  rude  sheds 
were  made  by  laying  rough  boards  on  poles  supported  by  forked 
stakes  driven  into  the  ground,  while  logs  arranged  in  rows  fur- 
nished benches  for  council  and  judges,  as  well  as  for  the  great 
crowd  of  people,  who,  according  to  ancient  custom,  were  in  at- 
tendance.4 Chatooga  proved  too  remote  from  the  main  body  of 
the  tribe,  however,  and  Red  Clay  in  southern  Tennessee  was 
chosen  as  the  place  of  the  next  meeting.5  This  proved  more 
convenient  and  remained  the  capital  as  long  as  the  Cherokees 
remained  in  the  East. 

The  terms  for  which  the  chiefs  and  members  of  the  legisla- 
ture were  elected  expired  at  the  close  of  the  first  session  of 

8  Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  359. 

4  Ibid,  p.  361. 

B  Ibid  2,  pp.  317-373. 


Factional  Strife  73 

Council  held  at  Red  Clay.  According  to  the  constitution,  a 
new  election  would  take  place  the  following  summer  before  the 
next  meeting  of  Council.  Inasmuch  as  the  confusion  caused  by 
the  Georgia  laws  prevented  elections  in  the  regular  manner 
the  Council  referred  the  question  to  the  people,  a  large  number 
of  whom  was  in  attendance.  They  called  a  convention  forth- 
with on  the  council  ground  and  representatives  from  the  dif- 
ferent districts  were  chosen  from  among  those  present.  This 
convention  passed  a  resolution  continuing  in  office  "the  present 
national  executive,  legislative  and  judicial  officials,  the  same 
being  the  people's  last  choice".  Until  elections  could  be  held 
constitutionally,  vacancies  were  to  be  filled  by  the  Principal 
Chief,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  upper  house.8 

The  action  of  this  convention  was  far  from  gratifying  to 
the  Ridges  and  their  friends  who  were  beginning  to  lose  favor 
with  the  administration  on  account  of  rumors  of  disaffection 
and  leanings  toward  removal.  Friendly  association  with  re- 
moval agents  gave  color  to  these  reports  and  John  Ridge  was 
impeached  by  the  Council  on  complaints  filed  by  his  own  dis- 
trict on  the  ground  that  he  no  longer  represented  the  opinion 
of  the  district.  Major  Ridge  and  David  Vann  were  next  im- 
peached for  advancing  policies  contrary  to  those  of  the  ma- 
jority. No  trial  was  ever  held,  it  being  the  chiefs'  policy  to 
avoid  arousing  antagonism,  and  all  three  resigned.7  Elias 
Boudinot  resigned  from  the  editorship  of  the  Phoenix  in  1832 
because  Mr.  Ross  discouraged  a  free  discussion  of  the  removal 
policy8  and  with  the  Ridges  and  Vanns  went  over  to  the  op- 
position which  had  gained  a  sufficient  following  by  1835  to 
organize  a  party9  with  Win.  Hicks  as  Principal  Chief  and  John 
Mcintosh  Second  Chief.  A  legislature  was  appointed  and  steps 
were  taken  to  supplant  the  existing  government.  Dissenters 
arose  in  their  own  ranks,  however,  and  a  large  number  of  them 
emigrated.  Among  those  left  behind  were  the  Ridges,  Boudinot, 
Vann  and  Andrew  Ross. 

6  Ibid,  p.  369. 

7  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  121. 

8  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  121. 

9  Niles'  Register  47,  p.  353. 


74  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

The  two  Ridges  and  Boudinot,  because  of  their  superior 
ability  and  influence,  soon  became  recognized  as  leaders  of  the 
opposition  party  both  by  the  Cherokees  and  the  Federal  au- 
thorities. Of  Major  Ridge  and  his  nephew,  Elias  Boudinot, 
some  account  has  been  given  in  preceding  chapters.  John 
Ridge,  educated  in  New  England,  was  a  young  man  of  great 
promise,  handsome,  brilliant  and  ambitious.10  After  completing 
his  education  he  returned  with  his  Connecticut  bride  to  the 
Cherokee  Nation  to  enter  with  all  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of 
confident  youth  into  the  political  and  social  life  of  the  tribe. 
His  superior  education,  his  eloquence,  his  distinguished  appear- 
ance, enhanced  by  his  taste  for  handsome  apparel  in  which  his 
father's  wealth  permitted  him  to  indulge,  his  fondness  for  dis- 
tinction and  power,  (all  characteristics  of  the  young  men  of  the 
ruling  class  throughout  the  south)  gave  him  the  reputation  of 
being  the  most  promising  young  man  of  the  Cherokee  Nation. 
When  in  1832  he  and  Elias  Boudinot  made  a  tour  of  the  east, 
addressing  enthusiastic  audiences  in  New  York  and  Boston  on 
the  condition  of  their  people,  all  who  heard  him  were  impressed 
with  his  gentlemanly  bearing  and  stirring  eloquence.11 

Young  Ridge  naturally  desired  and  expected  some  day  to 
occupy  the  highest  position  which  his  government  had  to  offer. 
His  political  career  began  auspiciously  when  he  became  a  member 
of  the  National  Committee  of  which  his  father  was  president, 
his  popularity  and  reputation  for  tribal  patriotism  reaching  its 
zenith  when  he  brought  to  bear  all  his  influence  for  the  renewal 
of  a  law,  the  provisions  of  which  had  been  drafted  by  his  father, 
making  it  a  death  penalty  for  any  person  or  group  of  persons 
to  sell  Cherokee  land  without  the  consent  of  the  Council.  As 
long  as  there  was  any  hope  of  attaining  the  chieftainship,  the 
way  to  which  was  temporarily  blocked  by  the  superior  influence 
of  a  man  in  some  respects  seemingly  inferior  to  him,  Ridge  was 
content  to  bide  his  time.  But  when  the  Council  of  1831  made 
John  Ross  chief  executive  indefinitely,  Ridge  saw  his  chances 
of  political  advancement  utterly  destroyed,  unless  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  times  should  work  some  change  more  advantageous 

"McKenney  and  Hall,  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  Vol.  II,  pp. 
103-106   (1855). 

n  Niles'  Register  56,  p.  342. 


Factional  Strife  75 

to  his  prospects.  Little  by  little  an  estrangement  grew  up  be- 
tween Ross  and  Ridge  with  his  coterie  of  friends  and  admirers 
which  government  and  state  agents  eagerly  seized  upon.  The 
Ridges  hitherto  had  consistently  opposed  emigration.  Now 
they  began  to  look  upon  it  more  favorably.  Readjustment 
in  a  new  country  might  give  them  the  political  opportunity 
which  would  be  denied  them  indefinitely  in  the  east. 

But  the  motives  that  prompted  them  were  not  altogether 
selfish  and  personal.  They  were  men  of  honor  and  patriotism, 
conscious  of  the  possibilities  of  the  misuse  of  power  concen- 
trated in  the  hands  of  one  man  with  strong  political  backing, 
with  unlimited  tenure  of  office  and  the  control  of  the  purse 
strings.  To  be  sure  the  purse  was  now  empty,  but  it  would  not 
always  be  so;  when  the  annuities  were  paid  the  money  could 
be  used  greatly  to  the  advantage  and  profit  of  those  in  control 
of  the  government.  Some  of  these  men  of  the  opposition  party 
were  undoubtedly  high-minded,  far-sighted  men  who,  honestly 
convinced  that  their  people  could  never  be  restored  to  peace 
and  happiness  in  the  east,  and  seeing  the  futility  of  further 
resisting  the  Federal  Government,  took  what  appealed  to  them 
as  the  only  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  They  now  came  out 
boldly  against  the  Ross  party  and  worked  openly  for  removal. 

Thus  before  it  had  been  launched  three  years  the  very  ex- 
istence of  the  Cherokee  republic  was  being  threatened  from 
within  and  without.  No  one  appreciated  its  situation  more 
keenly  than  the  captain  of  the  small  craft  of  state  who,  with 
every  faculty  alert,  bent  all  his  energy  to  the  task  of  quelling 
the  mutiny  on  board  while  weathering  the  tempest  steadily 
growing  darker  and  fiercer  without,  threatening  to  overwhelm 
him  and  his  people  in  shipwreck  and  ruin.  Sustained  by  his 
Christian  optimism  he  kept  a  clear  head  and  a  steady  hand, 
firmly  believing  that  the  justice  of  the  Cherokee  cause  would 
finally  triumph  and  that  a  quiet  harbor  could  yet  be  reached  if 
domestic  peace  and  harmony  could  be  restored,  and  forbearance 
and  patience  maintained  towards  the  disturbing  elements  with- 
out. Appealing  to  his  people  as  well  as  to  a  higher  power  than 
his  own  or  theirs  he  issued  a  proclamation  recommending  July 
nineteenth   to   be   observed   as    a   day   of   fasting   and   prayer 


76  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

out  the  Cherokee  Nation.  The  proclamation  declared,  "We 
have  need  to  go  to  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  in  this  day  of  deep 
affliction.  We  have  been  too  long  trusting  to  an  arm  of  flesh 
which  has  proved  to  be  but  a  broken  reed",  ("Happy  is  he  who 
hath  the  God  of  Jacob  for  his  refuge", — that  God  "which 
keepeth  truth  forever,  which  executeth  judgment  for  the  op- 
pressed".) and  whether  the  time  of  tribulation  and  sorrow 
through  which  they  were  passing  was  caused  by  the  wanton  de- 
pravity and  wickedness  of  man  or  by  the  unsearchable  and 
mysterious  will  of  a  wise  Providence  it  equally  became  them  as 
a  rational  and  Christian  community  humbly  to  bow  in  humilia- 
tion.12 

The  majority  of  the  tribe  responded  and  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed age  and  youth,  middle  age  and  childhood,  repaired  to 
camp  meeting  grounds,  to  convenient  groves  or  dwellings,  and 
fasted  and  prayed.  The  occasion  was  profoundly  dignified  and 
impressive.  Ross  knelt  and  prayed  with  his  people  and  arose 
to  resume  his  duties  refreshed  in  spirit  and  entrenched  in  the 
hearts  of  his  tribesmen  whose  abiding  faith  in  him  was  to  stand 
the  test  of  bribery  and  intrigue,  of  lying  and  calumny  to  the 
end  of  his  long  and  stormy  career. 

^Niles'  Register  42,  p.  441;  Cherokee  Phoenix,  July  7,  1832;  Drake's 
Indians,  p.  458  (1880). 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  National  Executive  Refuses  Protection 
to  the  Indians 

Chief  Ross,  with  a  delegation,  spent  the  following  winter 
in  Washington,  bringing  to  bear  every  influence  at  his  command 
upon  the  President  and  Congress  to  furnish  some  relief  to  the 
Cherokees.  But  the  only  course  offered  was  removal.  Finally 
in  a  communication  dated  January  28,  1833,  the  chief  assured 
the  executive  that  notwithstanding  the  various  perplexities  the 
Cherokees  had  experienced  they  were  yet  unshaken  in  their 
objection  to  removal.  They  had  no  assurance  that  removal 
westward  would  not  be  followed  in  a  few  years  by  consequences 
no  less  fatal  than  those  which  they  were  then  suffering.  He 
then  suggested  that  the  government  satisfy  those  Georgians 
who  had  taken  possession  of  Cherokee  land  under  the  lottery 
drawing  by  assigning  them  unoccupied  lands  in  other  terri- 
tories.1 Secretary  Cass  replied  that  he  could  not  foresee  any 
cause  for  fearing  that  removal  would  be  injurious  either  in  its 
immediate  or  remote  consequences.  A  mild  climate,  a  fertile 
soil,  an  inviting  and  extensive  country,  a  government  of  their 
own,  adequate  protection  against  other  Indians  and  against 
United  States  citizens,  pecuniary  means  for  removal,  all  were 
offered  them.  Mr.  Cass  could  not  see  the  subject  in  the  melan- 
choly light  in  which  the  Cherokees  had  presented  it. 

He  urged  that  it  was  only  by  removal  they  could  find  a 
safe  retreat  for  themselves  since  "as  long  as  any  remained  in 
Georgia  they  were  subject  to  the  laws  of  that  state,  surrounded 
by  white  settlements  and  exposed  to  all  those  evils  which  had 
always  attended  the  Indian  race  when  placed  in  immediate 
contact  with  the  white  population.  It  was  only  by  removing 
them  that  they  could  expect  to  avoid  the  fate  which  had  al- 
ready swept  away  so  many  Indian  tribes."  Ross  replied  with 
deep  regret,  he  felt  constrained  to  say,  that  in  this  scheme  for 
Indian  removal,  he  could  see  more  of  expediency  and  policy  to 
get  rid  of  the  Cherokee  than  to  perpetuate  their  race  upon  any 

1  Cong.  Doc.  268,  No.  71,  p.  29. 


78  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

permanent  fundamental  principle.  If  the  doctrine,  that  they 
could  not  exist  contiguous  to  a  white  population,  should  prevail 
and  they  should  be  compelled  to  remove  west  of  the  states  and 
territories  of  the  republic,  what  was  to  prevent  a  similar  re- 
moval of  them  from  that  place  for  the  same  reason?2 

The  delegation  returned  home  in  March  without  having 
secured  any  promise  of  relief  or  any  encouragement  whatever 
from  the  executive.  Ross  agreed,  before  leaving  Washington, 
however,  to  submit  to  the  Council  a  proposition  to  pay  the 
Cherokees  $2,500,00  for  their  land  if  they  would  remove  at 
their  own  expense.  The  President  appointed  Benj.  F.  Curry 
to  represent  the  interests  of  the  government  at  the  meeting  of 
Council  cabled  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  report  of  the 
delegation.  Mr.  Curry  left  no  stone  unturned  in  his  zeal  for 
securing  a  treaty  of  cession.  A  bribe  of  $5,000  very  adroitly 
proposed  to  the  principal  chief3  by  one  of  Curry's  accomplices 
and  spurned  by  the  chief  with  bitter  contempt,  caused  the 
commissioner  to  lose  the  last  vestige  of  respect  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Indians  who  already  hated  him  cordially.  The  Council  re- 
fused to  accept  the  President's  terms  and  adjourned,  after 
having  appointed  another  delegation  to  Washington  the  follow- 
ing month. 

The  condition  of  the  Cherokees  was  now  becoming  worse  and 
worse.  Deprived  of  their  annuity  funds,  the  country  demoral- 
ized politically  and  economically,4  the  Indians  were  suffering. 
They  could  no  longer  look  for  relief  from  Washington.  The 
factional  fight  grew  more  bitter  day  by  day  and  fresh  recruits 
were  being  added  to  the  party  in  favor  of  a  treaty. 

To  add  to  the  confusion,  the  Georgia  legislature,  as  has 
been  mentioned  before,  had  passed  an  act  which  granted  to 
fortunate  drawers  of  lots  the  lands  occupied  by  the  improve- 
ments of  those  Indians  who  had  accepted  reservations  under 
former  treaties.  This  act  included  the  improvements  of  all  who 
had  enrolled  for  emigration  and  after  having  accepted  pay  for 

2  Ibid,  pp.  30-31. 

3  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  to  Agent  Montgomery,  April  22, 1833. 
Indian  Office  Manuscript  Records;    Cherokee  Phoenix,  March  6,  1832. 

4  Niles'  Register  44,  p.  230. 


President  Refuses  Protection  to  the  Indians        79 

their  improvements  had  remained  in  the  Nation.5  Additional 
legislation  at  the  same  session  was  passed  to  induce  removal. 
The  next  year  a  law  granting  possession  of  these  lots  was  a 
signal  for  worse  depredations  than  any  formerly  committed. 
Some  of  the  best  Cherokee  homesteads  were  seized,  live  stock 
confiscated,  and  owners  ejected  from  their  homes.  Georgians 
who  had  never  before  lived  in  anything  but  a  one-room  log  cabin 
found  themselves  ensconced  in  comfortable  and  commodious 
quarters.  One  Georgia  lottery  gambler,  whose  sole  possessions 
consisted  of  the  clothes  he  wore  and  two  or  three  pistols,  drew 
the  lot  belonging  to  an  industrious  Indian  boy6  who  had  im- 
proved his  premises  until  they  were  of  considerable  value.  The 
gambler  loaded  up  his  possessions,  and,  "leaving  his  low  vaulted 
past",  went  into  the  Cherokee  country,  entered  the  house  of  the 
Indian,  took  possession  of  the  comfortable  buildings  and  cul- 
tivated fields  and  "stretched  himself  in  his  new  found  home  and 
knew  the  old  no  more".7  Charles  Hicks  was  forced  to  vacate 
his  pleasant  and  comfortable  home  in  the  dead  of  winter  and 
move  his  family  to  Tennessee,  where  they  found  shelter  in  an  old 
sugar  camp.8  Mr.  Martin,  the  Cherokee  treasurer,  received 
notice  from  the  state  agent,  Colonel  Bishop,  on  January  20  that 
he  must  prepare  to  give  entire  possession  of  his  premises  in  the 
next  thirty  days  or  suffer  the  penalty  of  the  law.9  His  carved 
mantels  and  marble  hearths  were  part  of  the  prize  that  fell 
to  another  fortunate  Georgian. 

Hundreds  of  other  cases  might  be  added,  but  it  is  useless  to 
multiply  examples  to  show  that  in  her  determination  to  cleanse 
her  soil  of  the  aborigines  the  state  and  her  citizens  were  pre- 
pared to  go  to  any  length,  though  all  the  while  strenuously  dis- 
avowing any  selfish  or  sinister  motives  toward  the  Indians.10 
One  other  instance  is  of  interest,  however,  as  showing  how  state 
officials  took  advantage  of  legal  technicalities  to  further  the  in- 
terests of  friends  and  relatives.   The  case  is  that  of  Joseph  Vann, 

5  Ibid,  p.  231. 

6  Ibid,  p.  270. 

7  Holmes's  Chambered  Nautilus. 

8  Payne  Mss.  2. 

0  Cong.  Doc.  296,  No.  286,  p.  5. 
10  Ibid,  p.  6. 


80  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

a  rich  planter  of  Vann's  Spring  Place,11  whose  plantation  con- 
tained about  eight  hundred  acres  of  cultivated  land.  His  im- 
provements consisted  of  a  brick  house,  costing  about  ten  thous- 
and dollars,  mills,  kitchens,  negro  quarters,  gardens  and  apple 
and  peach  orchards,  a  rare  prize  not  to  be  disposed  of  by  lottery. 
Mr.  Vann's  estate  was  so  extensive  he  was  compelled  to  employ 
an  overseer.  In  the  fall  of  1833  he  was  called  away  from  home 
on  business.  Before  going  he  made  a  conditional  contract  with 
a  Mr.  Howell,  a  white  man,  to  superintend  his  plantation  for 
him  during  the  year  beginning  January  1,  1834.  On  returning 
home  in  the  latter  part  of  December  and  learning  of  a  state 
law  prohibiting  a  Cherokee  from  hiring  a  white  man,  Vann 
promptly  canceled  his  contract  with  Howell.  The  state  agent, 
Mr.  Bishop,  notwithstanding,  notified  the  Georgia  authorities 
that  Vann  had  violated  the  state  laws  by  hiring  a  white  man, 
thereby  forfeiting  his  right  of  occupancy.  Conflicting  claims 
for  possession  arose  between  the  state  agent  and  a  Mr.  Riley. 
Riley  took  possession  of  the  upper  part  of  the  dwelling  armed 
for  a  siege.  When  Bishop  and  his  party  arrived  a  pitched 
battle  ensued.  Riley  could  not  be  dislodged  and  Bishop  set  fire 
to  the  house.  Riley  then  surrendered  and  the  fire  was  extin- 
guished. Vann  with  his  frightened  household,  in  the  meantime, 
had  taken  refuge  in  a  remote  room  of  the  house.  After  the 
smoke  of  battle  cleared  away  they  were  driven  out  and  forced  to 
make  their  way  over  the  snow-covered  fields  into  the  limits  of 
Tennessee.  Here  they  found  shelter  in  an  open  log  cabin  with 
a  dirt  floor.  Mr.  Bishop's  brother,  Absolam,  moved  into  the 
Vann  mansion  and  took  possession  of  the  estate.12 

Outrages  were  perpetrated  upon  the  poor  as  well  as  upon 
the  prosperous.  The  suffering  and  destitution  of  these  helpless 
victims  was  pitiful  to  see ;  their  story  is  too  heartrending  to 
dwell  upon.13     Yet  the  Cherokees  remained  unshaken  in  their 

11  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  mission  station  in  the  Cherokee 
nation  had  been  established  here  with  the  help  of  Vann's  father.  Joseph 
Vann  as  a  boy  had  fought  in  the  Creek  war  and  was  one  of  those  who 
periled  his  life  crossing  the  river  in  the  Battle  of  the  Horse  Shoe. 

12  Cong.  Doc.  292,  No.  286,  pp.  6  and  7. 

"Other  instances  of  outrages  are  described  in  Cong.  Doc.  208,  No.  57, 
page  7. 


President  Refuses  Protection  to  the  Indians         81 

determination  not  to  remove.  Devotion  to  established  customs 
and  to  their  ancestral  homes  was  deeply  rooted.  They  chose 
to  bear  the  ills  they  had  rather  than  fly  to  others  they  knew 
not  of. 

When  the  fall  Council  met  in  1833  it  took  up  the  discussion 
of  the  situation  and  the  advantage  to  be  gained  by  giving  up 
their  tribal  identity  and  becoming  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
A  memorial  was  drawn  up,  in  which,  after  asserting  that  they 
would  never  voluntarily  give  up  their  homes,  they  consented  to 
satisfy  Georgia  by  ceding  part  of  their  land  on  condition  that 
the  Federal  Government  protect  them  in  the  remainder  until  a 
definite  time  to  be  fixed  by  the  United  States,  after  which  time 
they  should  become  citizens  of  the  United  States.14  This  memo- 
rial was  dispatched  to  Washington  by  John  Ross,  heading  a 
delegation.  The  reply  from  the  executive  lacked  originality. 
Removal  was  the  only  remedy  for  their  troubles. 

In  the  meantime  there  had  appeared  at  the  National  Capital 
three  Cherokees  representing  the  faction  favoring  removal. 
Andrew  Ross,  the  leader,  suggested  to  the  Commissioner  of  In- 
dian affairs  that  if  authorized  to  do  so,  he  would  return  to  the 
Cherokee  Nation  and  bring  to  Washington  a  delegation  with 
whom  a  treaty  could  be  effected  for  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the 
Cherokee  territory.  Andrew  Ross  was  a  man  of  extravagant 
tastes  and  an  elastic  code  of  ethics.  Having  become  deeply  in- 
volved in  debt,  he  had  easily  fallen  in  with  the  intrigues  of 
Benj.  F.  Curry  who  engaged  him  as  enrolling  agent  for  the 
amount  of  his  debt.15  He  had  enrolled  for  the  west  and  ac- 
cording to  a  law  of  the  nation  had  no  legal  or  moral  right  to 
take  any  hand  in  the  affairs  of  the  eastern  nation.  President 
Jackson  was  able  to  overlook  these  small  considerations,  how- 
ever, and  Andrew  Ross's  plan  was  accepted.  It  was  agreed 
that  if  a  treaty  should  be  concluded,  the  United  States  would 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  delegation. 

Returning  home,  Andrew  Ross  assembled  about  two  dozen 
of  the  treaty  faction  at  the  agency  and  succeeded  in  orga- 
nizing the  Treaty  party  with  William  Hicks  as  principal  chief 
and  John  Mcintosh,  second  chief.     A  legislature  was  appointed 

14  Cherokee  Phoenix,  October  12,  1833. 
1C  Payne  Mss.  2. 


82  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

and  other  steps  taken  to  supplant  the  regularly  constituted 
government.  Eight  of  their  number,  selected  as  a  delegation 
to  Washington  arrived  at  the  National  Capital  in  May,  a  little 
more  than  two  months  after  Ross  had  first  broached  the  subject 
of  removal  to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs.  This  was 
quick  work  considering  the  length  of  the  round  trip  which  was 
made  on  horseback,  the  organization  of  a  government  and  the 
selection  of  a  group  of  men  to  represent  it  at  a  foreign  capital. 
Honorable  J.  H.  Eaton  was  appointed  commissioner  to  con- 
fer with  them.  After  negotiations  were  commenced  he  notified 
John  Ross  of  what  was  being  done  and  invited  him  to  cooperate 
with  them.  The  chief  refused  this  proposal,  hotly  saying,  "In 
the  face  of  Heaven  and  earth,  before  God  and  man,  I  most 
solemnly  protest  against  any  treaty  being  entered  into  with 
those  of  whom  you  say  one  is  in  progress  so  as  to  affect  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  East  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River".16  Ross  then  notified  the  Cherokee  Council  of  the 
business  in  progress  and  a  protest  signed  by  thirteen  thousand 
Cherokees  was  sent  up  to  Washington  and  presented  by  the  chief 
only  to  be  disregarded  under  the  plea  that  some  of  the  signa- 
tures were  fictitious.17  The  proceedings  continued  and  a  pre- 
liminary treaty  was  drawn  up,  June  19,  which  neither  Major 
Ridge  nor  John  Ridge  signed,  though  both  were  present.18  Its 
provisions  included  no  terms  more  advantageous  than  those 
previously  offered  and  when  it  was  presented  to  the  Cherokees 
they  refused  to  ratify  it.  The  whole  business  had  proved  a 
fiasco  so  far  as  the  Federal  Government  was  concerned.  The 
Council  called  to  ratify  it  held  a  stormy  session,  for  members 
of  both  parties  attended.  John  Walker,  Jr.,  one  of  the  principal 
advocates  of  removal,  was  shot  and  killed  while  on  his  way  home 
from  the  meeting,  and,  while  the  motive  that  prompted  the  as- 
sassination was  a  personal  one,  the  affair  caused  intense  ex- 
citement through  the  Cherokee  Nation.  Accusation,  recrimina- 
tion and  threats  were  freely  bandied  about  and  a  tribal  war 
seemed  imminent.  The  tact  and  ingenuity  of  the  principal 
chief  was  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  prevent  further  bloodshed 
and  restore  a  measure  of  tranquillity  to  the  nation. 

16  Cong.  Doc.  268,  No.  71,  p.  6. 

17  Ibid,  p.  7. 

lsCong.  Doc.  292,  No.  286,  pp.  135,  6. 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Annuity  Plot 

When  the  regular  session  of  the  Cherokee  Council  met  at 
Red  Clay  in  October1  excitement  still  ran  high.  The  disposi- 
tion of  the  Federal  executive  to  recognize  the  "set  of  unau- 
thorized individuals  calling  themselves  the  Treaty  Party" 
spread  consternation  and  aroused  indignation  throughout  the 
main  body  of  the  tribe  now  beginning  to  call  themselves  the 
National  party. 

A  delegation  was  sent  to  Washington  instructed  to  circum- 
vent the  treaty  men  at  all  hazards.  If  a  treaty  must  be  made, 
as  they  were  beginning  to  fear  was  inevitable,  then  it  should 
be  made  with  the  regularly  constituted  government  of  the  tribe. 
In  the  winter  of  1835,  therefore,  two  rival  delegations,  one 
headed  by  John  Ross,  the  other  by  Major  Ridge,  again  went 
up  to  Washington. 

The  Secretary  of  War  first  recognized  the  Ross  deputation, 
offering  them  practically  the  same  terms  as  had  been  recently 
rejected  by  the  Council.  They  declined  to  accept  them.  He 
then  turned  to  the  Ridge  faction  which  manifested  a  more  com- 
pliant attitude,  and  commissioned  the  Reverend  J.  F.  Scher- 
merhorn  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  them.2  Hearing  of  this 
before  negotiations  had  been  opened,  Ross  asked  the  President 
to  permit  him  to  submit  a  proposition  for  a  treaty.3  The  re- 
quest was  granted  and  operations  with  Ridge  were  suspended 
for  a  time.  It  was  two  weeks  before  Ross  presented  his  propo- 
sition which  offered  to  cede  the  Cherokee  Country  East  for 
twenty  million  dollars.  This  sum  the  President  considered  too 
exorbitant  to  be  considered  seriously  and  charged  Ross  with 
insincerity  and  with  filibustering.  In  order  to  prove  his  sin- 
cerity and  at  the  same  time  test  the  temper  of  the  Senate, 
among  whose  members  the  Cherokees  had  strong  friends,  Ross 
next  offered  to  allow  the  Senate  to  decide  the  sum  tentatively, 

1 1834. 

2  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  455. 

8  Cong.  Doc.  292,  No.  286,  pp.  132,  133. 


84  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  question  ultimately  to  be  submitted  to  the  Cherokee  Nation.4 
This  move  proved  an  unfortunate  one  for  John  Ross  and  the 
Cherokees.  His  proposal  was  at  once  accepted  and  a  statement 
of  all  the  facts  in  the  case  in  the  form  of  a  memorial  was  sent 
to  the  Senate  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  with  Senator  King 
of  Georgia  as  chairman.  In  less  than  a  week  the  Secretary  of 
War  informed  Chief  Ross  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  Senate 
not  more  than  five  million  dollars  should  be  paid  the  Cherokees 
for  their  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  He  then 
invited  the  Ross  delegation  to  enter  into  negotiations  on  that 
basis.      The  invitation  was   declined.5 

Meanwhile,  in  order  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  Presi- 
dent Jackson  had  ordered  Schermerhorn  to  proceed  with  the 
negotiations  with  the  opposing  party.  On  February  28  an 
agreement  was  drawn  up  with  them  in  which  the  consideration 
for  the  Cherokee  lands  east  was  fixed  at  four  million,  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  This  treaty  was  taken  up  after  Ross 
had  rejected  the  Senate  proposition  and,  on  March  14,  was 
signed  with  the  express  stipulation  that  it  should  receive  the 
approval  of  the  Cherokee  people  in  full  Council  assembled  be- 
fore it  should  be  considered  binding. 

President  Jackson's  next  concern  was  to  have  the  treaty 
ratified.  To  this  end  he  issued  an  address  to  the  Cherokees, 
calling  them  "Brothers,"  inviting  them  to  a  calm  consideration 
of  their  condition  and  prospects  and  urging  upon  them  the 
benefit  certain  to  inure  to  their  nation  by  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty  and  their  removal  to  the  western  country.6  This 
address  he  dispatched  by  Mr.  Schermerhorn,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed Commissioner  to  complete  the  negotiations  of  the  treaty 
in  the  Cherokee  Nation.7 

The  Treaty  delegation,  realizing  their  personal  safety  was 
at  stake,  had  hastened  home,  arriving  ten  days  or  two  weeks 

*  Ibid,  p.  141. 
6  Ibid,  p.  142. 

6  Ibid,  p.  41. 

7  General  William  Carroll  was  appointed  on  the  commission  also,  but 
on  account  of  an  affliction  of  rheumatism  was  unable  to  proceed  to  the 
Cherokee  Nation.  So  Mr.  Schermerhorn  was  left  to  conduct  the  negotia- 
tions alone. 


The  Annuity  Plot  85 

in  advance  of  their  rivals,  and  promptly  undertaken  to  get 
the  reins  of  government  into  their  own  hands.  As  they  were 
now  practically  the  agents  of  the  Federal  Government  they 
looked  to  its  officials  for  support,  nor  did  they  look  in  vain. 
Major  Curry,  who  was  still  holding  up  the  annuities  and  using 
them  as  a  pretext  to  call  the  Indians  together  for  the  purpose 
of  urging  removal,  circulated  the  notice  for  a  meeting  to  be 
held  at  the  head  of  the  Coosa8  River,  the  first  Monday  in  May, 
with  the  object  of  determining  in  what  manner  the  annuities 
should  be  paid.  The  Treaty  men  called  a  meeting  for  the  same 
time  and  place  to  explain  what  had  been  done  at  Washington. 
It  was  hoped,  by  confusing  the  two  calls,  to  collect  a  large 
crowd,  make  a  display  of  popularity  for  the  Treaty  men  and 
give  them  control  of  the  purse  strings  and  the  upper  hand 
in  the  government  which  they  could  use  for  their  own  protec- 
tion and  for  furthering  the  plans  of  the  administration. 

The  meeting  proved  a  failure  in  spite  of  Curry's  threat 
to  pay  the  annuities  to  the  person  selected  at  that  place,  even 
if  there  should  be  only  four  in  attendance.  Fewer  than  a 
hundred  were  present,  of  whom  twenty-five  or  thirty  were 
Cherokees,  chiefly  emigrants,  and  the  remainder  Georgians. 
No  vote  was  attempted.  A  less  persistent  and  resourceful  man 
would  have  acknowledged  himself  defeated.  Not  so  Major 
Curry.  He  merely  posted  the  notice  of  another  meeting  to 
be  held  at  the  same  place  on  July  20  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
termining in  what  manner  the  annuities  should  be  paid.9 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Ross  returned  to  the  Cherokee  Nation 
to  find  his  family  ejected  by  an  enterprising  Georgian  who  had 
drawn  their  home  in  the  land  lottery,10  and  the  people  in  much 
confusion  and  perplexity  of  mind  over  the  reports  of  the  treaty. 

A  council  which  he  called  to  meet  at  Red  Clay  the  second 
week  in  May  was  well  attended.  A  vote  taken  on  the  New 
Echota  Treaty  and  the  payment  of  the  annuities  showed  that 
the  Indians  had  changed  their  minds  on  neither  subject. 

8  In  the  neighborhood  of  Ridge's  home ;   Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  398. 

8  Payne  Mss.  2,  pp.  279-290. 

10  Cong.  Doc.  292,  No.  286,  p.  10.  Mr.  Ross's  family  sought  refuge 
beyond  the  borders  of  Georgia  within  the  limits  of  Tennessee,  where  they 
lived  in  a  log  cabin  until  1838. 


86  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Immediately  on  the  adjournment  of  the  Council  Mr.  Ross 
went  up  to  the  agency  to  see  what  would  be  done  about  the 
payment  of  annuities.  While  at  Washington  he  had  been  in- 
formed that  the  money  was  in  the  hands  of  Lieutenant  Bate- 
man  ready  to  be  turned  over  as  soon  as  the  Cherokees  had  fully 
determined  upon  the  manner  in  which  they  should  be  paid. 
Bateman  informed  him  that  a  vote  would  have  to  be  taken 
at  the  meeting  in  July  on  the  Coosa,  and  the  money  would  then 
be  paid  over  even  if  there  should  not  be  more  than  ten  present. 
The  reason  of  this  choice  of  meeting  place  was  not  far  to  seek. 
It  was  in  Georgia,  in  range  of  the  Georgia  Guard,  and  the 
chiefs  could  not  attend  without  danger  of  arrest.  Whispered 
threats  had  been  circulated  with  the  express  purpose  of  keeping 
them  away.  The  Indians  who  atended  would  therefore  be  influ- 
enced by  the  Treaty  party  and  the  annuity  could  then  fall  an 
easy  prize  to  that  faction.  It  was  expected  that  the  majority 
of  the  people  would  follow  the  purse. 

While  Ross  was  still  at  his  brother's11  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Agency,  the  President's  emissary,  Mr.  Schermerhorn,  arrived 
and  immediately  set  about  prosecuting  his  mission  with  a  zeal 
worthy  of  a  better  cause.  He  first  requested  an  interview  with 
the  Principal  Chief.  It  was  cheerfully  granted.  During  the 
conversation  the  Commissioner  expressed  a  desire  to  meet  the 
leading  men  of  the  tribe,  saying  "I  would  deem  myself  extremely 
fortunate  if  I  could  in  any  way  be  the  means  of  bringing  to- 
gether and  to  a  general  close  by  a  treaty  the  unhappy  difficul- 
ties existing  between  you  and  the  United  States."12  Ross  de- 
clared his  willingness  to  arrange  such  a  meeting  to  be  held  at 
Red  Clay.  The  Commissioner  hesitated,  and  after  consulting 
with  Agent  Curry,  declined,  insisting  upon  meeting  them  on 
July  20  at  Ridge's. 

It  now  seemed  perfectly  obvious  that  neither  the  Commis- 
sioner nor  the  Agent  was  acting  in  good  faith.  A  full  attend- 
ance at  the  meeting  was  neither  expected  nor  desired.  The 
time  selected  was  inconvenient.  The  Indians  but  lately  re- 
turned from  the  call  Council  were  occupied  in  making  their 

"Lewis  Ross. 

"Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  381. 


The  Annuity  Plot  87 

crops.  The  country,  two  hundred  miles  long  by  seventy  wide, 
had  to  be  traversed  by  runners  and  retraversed  by  the  people 
within  ten  days.  Moreover  the  people  must  bring  with  them 
provisions  of  food  which  had  to  be  gathered  and  prepared. 
The  Nationalists  saw  through  the  scheme  and  determined  to 
thwart  it.  They  dispatched  messengers  to  all  parts  of  the 
Nation  requesting  the  people  to  assemble  at  Two  Run13  on  the 
evening  of  July  19  if  possible.  The  message  was  obeyed 
promptly  and  the  people  began  preparations  for  the  journey. 
As  the  time  of  meeting  approached  the  weather  grew  threaten- 
ing. A  heavy  cloud  enveloped  the  mountain  tops  and  on  July  19 
a  cold  rain  began  to  fall.  It  must  have  seemed  to  the  Cherokees 
that  the  very  elements  were  leagued  against  them.  On  the 
night  appointed  small  parties  met  at  the  appointed  place. 
Early  the  next  morning  two  large  parties  arrived,  one  of  four 
or  five  hundred  from  the  neighborhood  of  Second  Chief 
Lowrey's,  who  was  among  them.  Many  of  these  were  old  men 
who  had  traveled  the  hundred  miles  on  foot.  Other  parties 
appeared  from  time  to  time  until  the  number  was  swelled  to 
more  than  two  thousand. 

Curry  and  Schermerhorn  had  reckoned  without  their  host. 
Astonishment,  consternation,  and  fear  seized  upon  their  camp 
which  was  a  mere  handful  compared  with  the  great  throng 
gathering  from  all  parts  of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  By  nine 
o'clock  an  orderly  audience,  gathered  at  the  place  of  meeting, 
awaited  the  arrival  of  Major  Curry  who  was  a  guest  at  the 
home  of  John  Ridge  near  by.  The  raw  and  gloomy  day  wore 
on  and  still  he  did  not  appear.  Ross  finally  sent  a  messenger 
beseeching  him  to  come  as  soon  as  possible  and  relieve  the 
people  from  exposure  to  the  inclement  weather  by  transacting 
promptly  the  business  which  had  brought  him  there.  At  length 
he  appeared  and  then  ensued  another  delay  as  Schermerhorn 
had  not  yet  arrived  and  Curry  declared  he  could  not  proceed 
without  him.  Finally,  all  parties  having  assembled,  Curry  as- 
cending the  platform,  asked  Ross  if  he  objected  to  opening  with 
prayer.  "Certainly  not",  replied  the  Chief,  "but  I  wish  to 
open  without  further  delay  for  we  are  overwhelmed  with  rain 

13  A   creek   about  two  miles   from   Ridge's. 


88  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

and  numbers".  A  native  preacher  thereupon  opened  with 
prayer  in  the  Cherokee  language,  and  a  hymn  in  the  same 
tongue  followed.  No  sooner  was  the  hymn  started  than  the 
Georgia  Guard  struck  up  an  accompaniment  with  fife  and  drum, 
a  sort  of  hint  it  seemed  to  the  Indians  that  the  persuasions  of 
the  Bible  were  to  be  reinforced  by  those  of  the  sword.  The 
devotional  exercises  concluded,  Curry  proceeded  to  business  and 
after  some  delay  the  voting  began.  Archilla  Smith,  an  Arkan- 
sas Cherokee,  handed  the  agent  a  resolution,  proposing  that 
the  annuities  be  used  for  the  poor  and  the  decrepit.  Mr.  Ross 
here  interposed  declaring  that  the  meeting  had  not  been  called 
for  the  purpose  of  legislation.  They  were  not  in  Council  assem- 
bled to  determine  what  to  do  with  the  money  when  they  got  it. 
To  his  mind  the  only  question  that  could  be  put  to  them  was  one 
upon  the  act  of  Congress  as  to  whether  it  should  be  paid  the 
treasurer  already  appointed  by  them  to  receive  it  or  whether 
each  man  would  receive  his  own  share.  After  another  delay 
the  voting  finally  began  and  proceeded  under  Major  Curry's 
direction.  As  the  Indians  came  up  to  cast  their  ballots  Curry 
asked  them  if  they  did  not  want  money  and  complained  of  the 
"bush  speeches"  made  to  mislead  them,  alluding,  of  course,  to 
Ross  whom  he  accused  of  secretly  influencing  them.  They  met 
his  questions  and  insinuations  with  silence  or  a  few  terse  words 
in  their  own  language,  which  he  could  not  understand,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  cast  their  votes. 

The  voting  did  not  get  beyond  one  district  the  first  day. 
Towards  evening  Schermerhorn,  fearing  the  failure  of  all  his 
schemes,  expressed  the  desire  to  speak  to  the  people  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  business  to  the  nation.  Ross  insisted  on  proceeding 
with  the  regular  business.  The  people  were  exposed  to  every 
sort  of  discomfort,  and  they  were  not  provisioned  for  a  long 
stay.  The  Indians  themselves  objected.  They  wanted  to  get 
through  with  the  business  in  hand  and  return  to  their  homes  and 
their  waiting  crops.  The  commissioner  overruled  all  pro- 
tests, however,  and  insisted  upon  being  heard  the  next 
day,  promising  to  subsist14  them  at  government  expense. 
When  morning  came  he  mounted  the  platform  and  proceeded 

"Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  455. 


The  Annuity  Plot  89 

to  address  them  for  three  hours  and  twenty  minutes,  cautioning 
the  people  against  listening  to  bad  birds  bringing  bad  reports 
to  excite  prejudice  against  him,  and  treating  them  to  a  short 
history  of  himself  and  how  he  had  become  acquainted  with  his 
friend,  President  Jackson.  He  had  stopped  at  Jackson's  house 
for  a  call  one  day,  and  while  there  his  horse  had  suddenly 
sickened  and  died,  whereupon  the  President  had  sent  him  on  his 
way  rejoicing  on  a  better  steed  and  a  finer  mission.  From  his 
earliest  recollections  it  had  been  the  dream  of  his  ambition  to 
be  useful  to  the  Indians.  His  dream  was  coming  true:  as  the 
President's  representative  he  had  come  with  a  great  message 
to  them.  He  entreated  them  to  "take  warning  from  the  fate  of 
the  tribes  of  the  North  and  emigrate  and  live;  not  like  them 
remain  and  rot."15  He  assured  them  that  it  was  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  accept  the  treaty  and  five  million  dollars  for  their 
Nation.  "Take  this  money,  for  if  you  do  not  the  bordering 
states  will  forthwith  turn  the  screw  tighter  and  tighter  till  you 
are  ground  to  powder.  And  look  not  for  mercy,  for  the 
measures  of  the  present  ruler  of  America  will  not  change  with 
his  successor  whom  I  know  as  I  do  myself.  Do  you  complain 
of  wrongs?  Remove  and  }^ou  can  retaliate.  If  the  white  man 
here  oppress  you,  there  you  can  oppress  him.  If  he  sticks  you 
here,  you  can  stick  him  there."16 

This  harangue  ended,  the  voting  was  continued  but  not 
finished  that  day.  When  night  began  to  fall  the  Indians  with- 
drew to  the  camp  ground  where  temporary  tents  were  made  by 
covering  a  framework  of  poles  with  leafy  branches.  These 
tents  were  arranged  around  a  hollow  square  in  which  large  fires 
were  lighted.  Around  the  fires,  or  in  the  tents,  the  Indians 
gathered  in  groups  to  eat  their  scanty  supper  and  to  discuss 
the  events  of  the  day  and  the  possibilities  of  the  morrow.  The 
scene,  as  described  by  John  Howard  Payne,  who  was  present, 
was  unique  and  picturesque.  The  firelight,  casting  a  glow 
over  the  great  encampment,  fell  upon  the  grave,  swarthy 
faces  of  hundreds  of  men  terribly  in  earnest  concerning  their 
national  welfare,  even  their  national  existence,  and  revealed  as 

18  Payne  Mss.  2,  p.  390. 

16  Mr.  Schermerhorn,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  a  Baptist  preacher. 


90  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  central  figures  of  the  scene  the  two  trusted  Chiefs,  Ross  and 
Lowrey,  to  whom  all  eyes  turned  for  example  and  all  ears  for 
council.17  The  camp  was  perfectly  orderly.  There  was  no 
noise  except  the  subdued  sound  of  many  voices  in  earnest  con- 
versation. Finally  they  grew  more  and  more  indistinct  until 
they  finally  died  away  into  complete  silence  and  the  multitude, 
worn  out  with  the  hardships  and  vexations  of  the  day,  slept. 
The  sky  cleared,  the  stars  came  out.  Their  soft  light  dimly 
revealed  the  outlines  of  the  mountain  tops  but  the  valley  of 
encampment  remained  in  shadow. 

The  morning  of  the  third  day  dawned  clear  and  bright.  The 
voting  was  continued.  Curry  and  Schermerhorn  with  their 
colleagues  seeing  all  their  schemes  frustrated  encouraged  vari- 
ous attempts  to  create  disorder  and  confusion  among  the 
Indians.  An  attempt  to  get  up  a  ball  play  for  the  purpose  of 
distracting  attention  met  with  no  response.  Women  were  sent 
into  the  crowd  with  whiskey  in  the  hope  of  creating  a  tumult, 
but  the  Indians  ignored  them.  Several  times  the  Georgia  Guard 
mounted  and  galloped  around  the  crowd  to  the  guard  house 
raising  yells  and  starting  mock  pursuits.  The  Indians  were 
on  their  guard.  In  one  of  these  pursuits  an  emigrant  got  mixed 
up  by  mistake.  He  was  released  as  soon  as  it  was  discovered 
he  was  not  an  Eastern  Cherokee.  Ross  himself  was  not  spared 
humiliating  annoyances.  An  idiot  boy  took  occasion  to  use 
insulting  language  to  the  Principal  Chief.  Some  thought  he 
had  been  set  on  to  goad  Ross  to  some  act  of  indiscretion.  The 
situation  was  met  with  such  dignity  and  self-control  as  to 
appeal  to  the  admiration  of  all  who  witnessed  the  incident. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting  Major  Curry  remarked  to  Mr. 
Ross  that  the  assembly  was  the  largest  body  of  Indians  he  had 
ever  seen  or  ever  expected  to  see  together  and  that  it  was  ex- 
tremely gratifying  to  him  that  so  great  a  multitude  should  have 
been  so  orderly.  To  which  Mr.  Ross  quietly  replied:  "Yes,  I 
am  most  pleased  with  them  because  of  the  temptations  which 
they  have  had  the  virtue  to  resist." 

17  Ridge  had  cordially  invited  Ross  to  spend  the  night  under  shelter 
of  his  roof.  Courteously  thanking  him  for  his  kindness  he  declined  the 
invitation  saying:  "Why  should  I  fare  better  than  my  people?"  And  he 
insisted  upon  sharing  the  accommodations  of  the  common  lot. 


The  Annuity  Plot  91 

The  vote  as  concluded  on  the  third  day  stood  one  hundred 
and  fourteen  for  payment  to  individuals  as  against  two  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  twenty-five  for  payment  to  the  National 
Treasurer.  An  attempt  to  pass  a  resolution  that  no  part  of  the 
money  should  be  used  as  attorney's  fees  was  put  down  by  accla- 
mation.18 

18  An  account  of  this  meeting  is  given  by  John  Howard  Payne.  Payne 
Mss.  2,  pp.  379-400;    Cong.  Doc.  292,  No.  286,  p.  57. 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  New  Echota  Treaty 

During  the  summer  and  fall  of  1835  Curry  and  Schermer- 
horn  exhausted  every  available  force  to  secure  consent  to  a 
treaty,  going  so  far  as  to  importune  the  legislatures  of  Ten- 
nessee and  Alabama  to  pass  laws  prohibiting  Cherokees,  ejected 
from  their  possessions  in  Georgia,  from  taking  up  residence  in 
those  states,  Curry  openly  alleging  it  to  be  the  policy  of  the 
United  States  to  make  the  situation  so  miserable  as  to  drive  the 
Indians  into  a  treaty  or  abandonment  of  the  country.1  Indians 
were  arrested  and  thrown  into  jail  on  the  slightest  excuse  or 
none  at  all,  held  without  trial  and  dismissed  without  explanation 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  Georgia  guard.2 

For  the  express  purpose  of  depleting  the  population  of  the 
eastern  nation  and  weakening  its  government,  thereby  render- 
ing it  more  amenable  to  the  state  and  Federal  policy,  Agent 
Curry  now  redoubled  his  efforts  in  the  direction  of  enrollment, 
halting  at  no  methods  to  secure  individual  consent,  or  semblance 
of  consent  to  emigrate.  To  this  end  he  allowed  whiskey  to  be 
brought  into  the  Cherokee  country  and  used  freely  among  the 
Indians  although  their  own  laws  forbade  it ;  exercised  the  coars- 
est kind  of  intrigue  among  the  more  ignorant  and  helpless  and 
where  everything  else  failed  he  used  force  in  securing  enroll- 
ment. As  evidence  in  this  indictment  there  is  the  incident  of 
Atahlah  Anosta,  a  full-blood  who,  while  drunk,  was  induced  to 
enroll  against  the  wishes  of  his  wife  and  children.  When  the 
time  came  for  him  to  leave  for  Arkansas  he  absconded.  A 
guard  sent  to  fetch  him  arrested  his  wife  and  children  and  drove 
them  through  a  cold  rain  to  the  agency  where  they  were  de- 
tained under  guard  until  the  woman  agreed  to  emigrate.3 
There  is  also  the  story  of  Sconatachee,  an  Indian  over  eighty 
years  of  age,  whose  consent  to  register  had  been  secured  during 
a  fit  of  drunkenness  into  which  he  had  been  inveigled  by  Curry's 

*  Cong.  Doc.  282,  No.  286,  p.  8. 
a  Ibid,  p.  6 ;   Payne  Mss.  6. 
6  Ibid,  p.  10.    Payne  Mss.  6. 


The  New  Echota  Treaty  93 

accomplices.  When  he  failed  to  appear  at  the  time  the  emi- 
grants were  collecting,  Curry,  with  an  interpreter,  went  after 
him.  The  Indian  refused  to  accompany  him,  whereupon  Curry 
drew  a  revolver  and  tried  to  drive  the  old  fellow  to  the  agency. 
Failing  in  this  attempt  he  later  sent  a  sufficient  force  to  over- 
power and  tie  him  hand4  and  foot  and  thus  the  white  haired 
chief  of  a  once  mighty  race  was  hauled  in  a  wagon  to  the 
agency  like  a  hog  to  market. 

But  neither  these  measures  nor  others  which  the  Federal 
officials  had  yet  been  able  to  devise  seemed  to  incline  the 
Indians  to  emigrate  nor  to  render  them  more  friendly  to  a 
treaty.  Convinced  that  he  was  making  poor  headway,  the  com- 
missioner finally  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  suggesting  that 
a  treaty  be  concluded  with  a  part  of  the  nation  only,  should 
one  with  the  whole  be  found  impracticable.  In  reply,  he  was 
advised  that  if  a  treaty  could  not  be  concluded  upon  fair  and 
open  terms,  he  must  abandon  the  effort  and  leave  the  nation  to 
the  consequences  of  its  own  stubbornness.5  But  Mr.  Scher- 
merhorn,  familiar  with  Jacksonian  methods  of  dealing  with  the 
Indians,6  was  able  to  read  between  the  lines,  and  face  to  face 
with  the  fact  that  he  must  bring  the  Cherokees  to  terms  very 
soon  or  lose  favor  with  the  President,  he  began  to  plan  his 
course  of  action  regardless  of  instructions,  confident  that  a 
successful  treaty  would  meet  with  executive  approval  and  no 
questions  asked. 

As  time  for  the  October  Council  drew  near,  interest  became 
centered  in  the  proposed  treaty.  The  Indians  seemed  to  con- 
sider the  approaching  meeting  of  vital  importance,  and  the 
attendance  bade  fair  to  be  unusually  large.  Full-bloods  from 
remote  settlements,  confused  by  rumors  from  various  sources 
about  a  proposed  treaty,  and  fearful  of  being  led  into  a  false 
situation  by  ignorance  or  intrigue,  determined  to  consult  Mr. 
Ross  on  the  subject  before  Council  convened. 

On  the  morning  of  October  ll,7  1835,  an  interesting  scene 
in  the  Cherokee  drama  was  played.     The  place  was  a  log  cabin 

-   *Cong.  Doc.  282,  No.  286,  p.  10. 
6  Secretary   of   War   to   Schermerhorn,   Sept.    26,    1835.     Indian    Office 
Manuscript  Records;    National  Intelligencer,  May  24,  1838. 

6  Schermerhorn  to  Secretary  of  War,  Sept.  10,  1835. 

7  Council  met  October  12. 


94  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

meet  him  Mr.  Ross  went  foward  with  grave  dignity  to  give  them 
his  hand  in  greeting.  The  salutation  over  the  old  men  remained 
near  the  Principal  Chief  while  the  rest  of  the  company  withdrew 
to  different  parts  of  the  enclosure,  some  to  repose  Turk  fashion 
on  the  ground  with  their  backs  against  trees,  others  to  sit  upon 
logs,  and  still  others,  on  the  top  of  the  rail  fence.  All  eyes  were 
fixed  upon  Chief  Ross  as  he  presently  began  to  address  them  on 
the  subject  of  their  quest,  while  an  interpreter  stood  ready  to 
translate  into  Cherokee  sentence  by  sentence.6  After  explain- 
ing the  provisions  of  the  proposed  treaty  he  told  them  plainly 
his  opinion  of  it.  According  to  his  belief  the  terms  it  offered 
were  not  liberal  enough  and  if  they  held  off  a  while  longer  a 
fairer  price  could  be  obtained  for  their  lands. 

When  he  had  finished  speaking  the  men  arose  and  as  if  with 
one  impulse  began  to  circle  round  the  speaker  expressing  their 
approval  of  him  by  exclamations  and  ejaculations  in  the  Indian 
language.7  Then  an  old  man  raising  his  voice  above  the  noise 
of  the  multitudes  spoke  a  few  terse  sentences,  after  which  each 
one  went  for  his  pack  and  the  march  to  the  council  ground  was 
resumed.  The  dignity  and  solemnity  of  the  occasion  pro- 
foundly impressed  all  who  witnessed  the  scene.8 

When  Council  convened  in  October  Mr.  Schermerhorn  and 
Mr.  Curry  were  on  hand  to  urge  the  merits  of  the  treaty  drawn 
up  at  Washington  in  the  early  spring.  Their  hopes  ran  high 
if  we  are  to  credit  their  correspondence  at  this  time,  their  inten- 
tion being  to  create  a  division  in  the  National  party,  a  part  of 
whom  could  then  be  won  over  by  hook  or  crook  to  unite  with  the 
Ridge  faction  in  ageeing  to  the  treaty.9  But  they  were  doomed 
to  surprise  and  disappointment  for  the  unexpected  again  hap- 
pened. The  two  factions  had  come  together,  as  they  had  been 
trying  to  do  since  the  Ridge  meeting  in  June,  and  had  agreed 
to  bury  in  oblivion  all  unkindly  feelings  and  to  act  unitedly 

"While  Mr.  Ross  spoke  the  Cherokee  language  in  conversation  with 
the  Indians  he  made  all  his  addresses  in  English  and  had  them  interpreted. 

7  This  was  in  accordance  with  an  ancient  custom. 

8  A  description  of  this  event  is  to  be  found  in  an  unsigned  letter  be- 
lieved to  have  been  written  by  John  Howard  Payne  in  the  Cherokee  Mss. 
Collection,  Tahlequah,  Okla. 

9  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  485.    Schermerhorn  to  Cass,  Oct.  12,  1835. 


The  New  Echota  Treaty  95 

his  opinion  of  it.  According  to  his  belief  the  terms  it  offered 
were  not  liberal  enough  and  if  they  held  off  a  while  longer  a 
fairer  price  could  be  obtained  for  their  lands. 

When  he  had  finished  speaking  the  men  arose  and  as  if  with 
one  impulse  began  to  circle  round  the  speaker  expressing  their 
approval  of  him  by  exclamations  and  ejaculations  in  the  Indian 
language.9  Then  an  old  man  raising  his  voice  above  the  noise 
of  the  multitudes  spoke  a  few  terse  sentences,  after  which  each 
one  went  for  his  pack  and  the  march  to  the  council  ground  was 
resumed.  The  dignity  and  solemnity  of  the  occasion  pro- 
foundly impressed  all  who  witnessed  the  scene.10 

When  Council  convened  the  next  day  Mr.  Schermerhorn  and^ 
Mr.  Curry  were  on  hand  to  urge  the  merits  of  the  treaty  drawn 
up  at  Washington  in  the  early  spring.  Their  hopes  ran  high 
if  we  are  to  credit  their  correspondence  at  this  time,  their  inten- 
tion being  to  create  a  division  in  the  National  party,  a  part  of 
whom  could  then  be  won  over  by  hook  or  crook  to  unite  with  the 
Ridge  faction  in  agreeing  to  the  treaty.11  But  they  were  doomed 
to  surprise  and  disappointment,  for  the  unexpected  again  hap- 
pened. The  two  factions  had  come  together,  as  they  had  been 
trying  to  do  since  the  Ridge  meeting  in  June,  and  had  agreed 
to  bury  in  oblivion  all  unkindly  feelings  and  to  act  unitedly 
in  arranging  with  the  United  States  a  treaty  for  the  relief  of 
the  nation.12  As  a  result  the  Schermerhorn  treaty  was  re- 
jected unanimously  by  the  Council,  the  Ridges  and  Boudinot 
using  their  influence  against  it.  The  astonished  commissioner 
in  reporting  the  affair  to  the  Secretary  of  War  acknowledged 
his  disappointment  in  the  unadvised  and  unexpected  course 
taken  by  the  Ridges,  explaining  it  on  the  ground  that  they  had 
become  discouraged  in  contending  with  the  power  of  Ross ;  he 
thought  perhaps  some  consideration  of  personal  safety  may 
have  had  its  influence  also.  "But,"  he  piously  observed,  "the 
Lord  is  able  to  overrule  all  things  for  good."13     His  chief  hope 

9  This  was  in  accordance  with  an  ancient  custom. 

10  A  description  of  this  event  is  to  be  found  in  an  unsigned  letter  be- 
lieved to  have  been  written  by  John  Howard  Payne  in  the  Cherokee  Mss. 
Collection,  Tahlequah,  Okla. 

11  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  485.    Schermerhorn  to  Cass,  Oct.  12,  1835. 

12  Cong.  Doc.  292,  No.  286,  p.  82. 

13  National  Intelligencer,  May  24,  1828. 


96  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

in  accomplishing  a  treaty  now  lay  in  the  fear,  on  the  part  of  the 
Indians,  of  Georgia  legislation.  Alabama  and  Tennessee,  he 
thought,  would  pass  some  wholesome  laws  to  quicken  their  move- 
ments.14 In  order  that  he  might  have  assurance  of  executive 
approval  of  steps  already  taken  and  support  in  occupying 
higher  ground,  Mr.  Schermerhorn  sent  Major  Curry  on  to 
Washington  "with  private  dispatches  of  a  confidential  nature 
to  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War,  part  of  which  were 
verbal.15 

In  the  glow  of  good  feeling  attending  the  reconciliation  of 
the  two  factions,  the  Council  passed  a  resolution  providing  for 
a  committee  of  twenty  members  to  be  chosen  from  both  parties 
and  empowered  to  arrange  a  treaty  with  the  commissioner  in 
the  Cherokee  Nation  or  at  Washington.16  John  Ridge  and 
Elias  Boudinot  were  appointed  members  of  this  committee.  Upon 
consulting  Mr.  Schermerhorn  and  finding  that  he  had  no 
authority  to  treat  with  them  upon  any  other  basis  than  the 
treaty  just  rejected  the  committee  prepared  to  set  out  for 
Washington.  But  trouble  was  brewing  among  the  newly  recon- 
ciled parties.  The  Treaty  men  began  to  think  that  they  were 
not  sufficiently  recognized  on  the  committee  and  that  due  con- 
sideration had  not  been  shown  them  by  the  Council.  These 
and  other  grievances  of  a  personal  nature  furnished  fuel  to  the 
smouldering  embers  of  factional  enmity  which  were  soon  fanned 
into  a  blaze  by  assiduous  Federal  and  state  agents.  Accusa- 
tions and  recriminations  became  the  order  of  the  day  and 
resignations  of  the  Ridge  men  from  the  committee  naturally 
followed.  First  John  Ridge  resigned,  and  then  Boudinot,  and 
they  were  soon  won  back  to  their  alliance  with  Mr.  Schermer- 
horn.   It  would  be  interesting  to  know  just  how  it  was  effected. 

On  the  eve  of  the  departure  of  the  Nationalists  for  Wash- 
ington Mr.  Ross  was  seized  by  the  Georgia  Guard  on  the  plea 
that  he  was  a  white  man  residing  in  the  Indian  country  and 
conducted  across  the  Georgia  line  where  he  was  held  for  some 
time.17    The  charge  was  too  absurd  to  deceive  any  one,  however, 

14  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  pp.  484  and  485. 

15  Ibid,  p.  485;    also,  120. 

16  Ibid,  p.  484. 

1T  Curry  to  Cass,  Nov.  3,  1835.     Indian  Office  Letter  835,  183G. 


The  New  Echota  Treaty  97 

and  he  was  finally  released  without  trial  or  explanation.  All 
his  private  correspondence,  as  well  as  the  proceedings  of  Coun- 
cil, were  seized  at  the  same  time  and  searched  for  incriminating 
evidence  which  would  justify  his  removal  from  the  scene  of 
action.  With  him  out  of  the  way  it  was  thought  the  Indians 
would  be  more  easily  managed.  At  the  same  time  John  Howard 
Payne,  who  was  the  guest  of  Ross  and  was  in  the  nation  for  the 
purpose  of  collecting  historical  and  ethnological  material  re- 
lating to  the  tribe,  was  seized  and  all  his  manuscripts  rifled. 
A  few  weeks  before  this  the  Cherokee  Phoenix  had  been  sup- 
pressed and  its  plant  seized  and  carried  off  by  the  Georgia 
Guard  at  the  instigation  of  Major  Curry,  who  saw  that  it  was 
thereafter  run  in  the  interest  of  removal.18 

Before  leaving  Red  Clay,  in  October,  Mr.  Schermerhorn 
had  posted  on  the  walls  of  the  council  house  notice  of  a  meeting 
to  be  held  at  New  Echota,  the  third  week  in  December,  for  the 
purpose  of  agreeing  to  the  terms  of  a  treaty.  The  notice  was 
accompanied  by  the  threat  that  those  who  failed  to  attend 
would  be  counted  as  assenting  to  any  treaty  that  might  be 
made,  and  the  promise  that  all  who  should  attend  would  be 
subsisted  at  government  expense.  Threats  and  promises,  how- 
ever, proved  of  little  avail,  and  when  the  proceedings  opened 
there  were  present  not  more  than  three  hundred  Indians,  men 
women  and  children.  Of  these  a  good  many  were  emigrants, 
and  none  of  them  were  principal  officers  of  the  Cherokee  Nation. 
Curry,  who  had  returned  from  Washington,  evidently  with  the 
assurance  of  executive  support,  proceeded  to  carry  things  with 
a  high  hand,  openly  threatening  any  one  who  had  come  there 
to  oppose  the  treaty  agreement.19  At  Mr.  Schermerhorn's  sug- 
gestion a  committee  of  twenty  was  selected  from  among  those 
present  to  confer  with  him  as  to  details  of  a  treaty.  When  it  was 
reported  to  the  people  for  their  vote,  the  ballot  showed  seventy- 
nine  in  favor  and  seven  against  it.20  A  delegation  of  thirteen 
was  appointed  to  accompany  the  commissioner  to  Washington 
for  the  purpose  of  urging  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and 
clothed  with  power  to  assent  to  any  alterations  made  necessary 

18  Payne  Mss.  2. 

19  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.513. 

20  Ibid. 


98  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

by  the  President  or  Senate.  Mr.  Schermerhorn  immediately 
wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  of  his  success,  exulting  in  the  belief 
that  John  Ross  was  at  last  prostrate,  the  power  of  the  nation 
having  been  taken  from  him  as  well  as  the  money.21  He  was 
now  a  Sampson  shorn  of  his  locks. 

The  treaty22  provided  that  the  Cherokee  Nation  cede  all  its 
remaining  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  for  the  sum 
of  four  million  five  hundred  dollars  and  a  common  joint  interest 
in  the  country  occupied  by  the  Western  Cherokees,  with  the 
addition  of  a  small  tract  on  the  northeast.  The  Cherokees 
were  to  be  paid  for  their  improvements  and  removed  and 
subsisted  for  a  year  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  the 
removal  to  take  place  within  two  years  from  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty.  Provision  was  made  for  the  payment  of  debts  due 
from  the  Indians  out  of  money  coming  to  them  from  the 
treaty;  for  the  reestablishment  of  missions  in  the  west;  for 
pensions  to  the  Cherokees  wounded  in  the  services  of  the  govern- 
ment in  the  War  of  1812  and  the  Creek  war;  for  permission 
to  establish  such  military  posts  and  roads  in  the  new  country 
for  the  use  of  the  United  States  as  should  be  deemed  necessary ; 
for  satisfying  Osage  claims  in  the  western  territory  and  for 
bringing  about  a  friendly  understanding  between  the  two  tribes ; 
and  for  the  commutation  of  all  annuities  into  a  permanent 
national  fund,  the  interest  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
officers  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  by  them  disbursed,  according 
to  the  will  of  their  own  people,  for  the  care  of  schools  and  an 
orphan  asylum,  and  for  general  national  purposes.23  It  was 
signed  by  J.  F.  Schermerhorn  and  William  Carroll  as  commis- 
sioners of  the  United  States  and  by  the  committee  of  twenty 
on  the  part  of  the  Treaty  party,  prominent  among  whom  were 
Major  Ridge  and  Elias  Boudinot. 

The  main  body  of  the  nation,  amazed  and  indignant  at  what 
they  considered  the  barefaced  affrontery  of  their  tribesmen, 
stood  ready  to  contest  the  treaty.  Second  Chief  Lowrey  called 
a  meeting  of  the  Council  at  Red  Clay  in  January,  and  although 
the  weather  was  bitterly  cold  and  stormy,  and  smallpox  had 

21  Ibid,  p.  495. 

22  Ibid,  p.  512. 

23  7  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  478  et  seq. 


The  New  Echota  Treaty  99 

broken  out  in  one  district  over  four  hundred  persons  were 
present.  Those  who  were  detained  sent  in  votes  by  friends  and 
neighbors.24  A  resolution  passed,  denouncing  the  methods  used 
by  the  commissioners  and  declaring  the  treaty  null  and  void, 
was  signed  by  upwards  of  twelve  thousand  Cherokees  and  for- 
warded to  Washington.  This  protest  with  one  signed  by  three 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  residing  in  North  Carolina  was 
presented  to  Congress  by  the  Ross  delegation,  for  while  the 
Executive  had  shown  too  plain  a  hand  in  the  game  to  leave  any 
doubt  as  to  what  course  he  would  now  pursue  it  was  still 
believed  that  the  National  Legislature  would  not  stand  for  the 
methods  used  when  the  facts  in  the  case  became  known.  But 
in  spite  of  the  strenuous  opposition  against  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty  it  passed  the  Senate  by  a  majority  of  one  vote  and 
was  promptly  signed  and  proclaimed  by  the  President  May  23, 
1836. 25  The  treaty  allowed  the  nation  two  years  in  which  to 
remove  and  no  time  was  lost  by  the  administration  in  taking 
preliminary  steps  to  carry  it  into  execution.  To  Governor 
Lumpkin  of  Georgia  and  Governor  Carroll  of  Tennessee  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  bringing  it  about  was  given  the  com- 
mission to  supervise  and  direct  the  execution  of  the  treaty, 
while  Benj.  F.  Curry  was  made  superintendent  of  removal.  The 
details  of  graft  which  crop  out  in  the  correspondence  of  the 
time  as  found  in  the  official  records  prove  that  the  removal  of 
the  Indians  provided  many  a  fat  job  for  place  hunters  and 
friends  of  influential  politicians  on  good  terms  with  the  admin- 
istration. Many  a  political  debt  was  paid  with  the  capital 
furnished  by  the  sale  of  the  Cherokee  Nation,  East.26 

91  Cong.  Doc.  292,  No.  286,  p.  118  ff. 

25  7  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  478. 

26  Cong.   Doc.  315,   No.    120.     Numerous  letters   to   the    President   and 
Secretary  of  War. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Opposition  to  the  Treaty 

Mr.  Ross  remained  in  Washington  until  after  the  treaty 
passed  the  Senate,  hoping  that  either  sentiment  against  it  or 
some  technicality  might  defeat  it.  Seeking  an  interview  with 
President  Jackson  he  was  bluntly  informed  that  the  Executive 
had  ceased  to  recognize  any  existing  government  among  the 
Eastern  Cherokees. 

On  March  26  he  wrote  home  advising  his  people  to  ignore 
the  treaty  but  to  remain  quiet.1  A  copy  of  this  letter  falling 
into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  was  exploited  as  evidence  of  the 
Chief's  intention  to  resist  the  treaty  and  called  forth  bitter 
denunciation  from  Federal  and  state  officials  who  persisted  in 
asserting  that  the  majority  of  the  Cherokees  were  in  favor  of 
removal  and  that  all  the  trouble  was  due  to  Ross's  efforts  to 
arouse  them  to  resistance.2  Rumors  of  a  brewing  insurrection 
supported  by  an  anonymous  letter  warning  white  men  in  the 
Cherokee  country  of  a  plan  to  attack  and  drive  them  from  the 
nation  alarmed  the  administration  and  horrified  the  neighboring 
states.  "When  white  men  fight  for  home  and  country  they  are 
lauded  as  the  noblest  of  patriots,"  says  Miss  Abel;  "Indians 
doing  the  same  thing  are  stigmatized  as  savages.  What  a 
fortunate  and  convenient  excuse  the  doctrine  of  manifest  des- 
tiny has  proved."3 

But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Indians  had  no  intention  of 
resorting  to  arms,  as  they  attempted  to  prove  by  a  meeting  of 
representatives  of  the  mountain  districts  held  at  Hiwassee  in 
the  summer  of  1836,  where  they  drew  up  resolutions  stating 
the  condition  of  their  people  and  showing  the  futility  of  armed 
resistance.  They  had  no  military  system,  they  said,  no  military 
supplies.  The  scalping  knife  and  tomahawk  had  been  buried 
half  a  century,  while  the  love  of  war  and  the  practice  of  it  had 
become  obsolete.    A  number  of  their  old  men  still  survived  who 

1  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  679. 

2  Ibid,  p.  599. 

8  Abel,  Indian  Consolidation,  p.  266. 


Opposition  to  the  Treaty  101 

had  spilled  their  blood  and  had  seen  their  brothers  fall  beside 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States;  but  their  young 
men  had  never  known  war,  had  never  heard  the  war  whoop,  nor 
"viewed  the  pitiless  carnage  of  battle  which  wrings  with  hope- 
less agony  the  hearts  of  mothers,  sisters  and  friends."4 

This  protest  with  others  of  like  tenor  from  different  parts 
of  the  Cherokee  country  failed  to  restore  public  confidence  and 
General  Wool  with  an  army  of  seven  thousand  men  was  sent 
late  in  July  to  overawe  the  Indians  and  to  "frown  down  opposi- 
tion to  the  treaty."5  In  two  meetings  held  soon  after  his  arrival 
in  North  Carolina,  where  dwelt  the  least  civilized  portion  of  the 
tribe,  he  found  the  people  peaceable  but  firmly  opposed  to  the 
treaty.  When  they  evaded  the  question  of  whether  they  would 
remove  willingly  he  issued  the  ultimatum  of  peace  or  war, 
remove  or  fight.  When  they  expressed  the  wish  to  consult 
John  Ross  the  privilege  was  denied  them  on  the  ground  that 
Ross  had  led  them  astray  from  their  interests  and  happiness 
too  long  by  his  pernicious  counsels.  General  Wool,  they  were 
told,  was  hereafter  the  most  proper  person  to  advise  them.6  No 
decisive  action  having  been  taken  when  the  meetings  broke  up, 
he  sent  out  and  overtook  the  chiefs,  held  them  prisoners  over 
night  and  released  them  only  after  they  had  promised  to  obey 
the  treaty  and  send  their  young  men  in  to  surrender  their 
arms.  He  reported  to  the  Secretary  of  War  that  nineteen- 
twentieths  if  not  ninety-nine  out  of  every  one  hundred  of  the 
North  Carolina  Cherokees  were  opposed  to  the  treaty  and 
would  not  comply  with  it  unless  compelled  to  do  so  by  military 
force,  and  asked  that  additional  troops  be  sent  to  his  assis- 
tance.7 

Jackson's  second  term  was  now  nearing  its  close  and  the 
Cherokees  encouraged  by  friends  in  Congress  entertained  some 
expectation  of  relief  from  the  next  administration.  In  the 
summer  of  1836  Mr.  Ross  had  written  a  friend  that  if  Mr.  Clay 
and  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  were  elected  it  would  be  a  godsend  to  the 

4  Niles'  Register  50,  p.  383. 
6  National  Intelligencer,  May  24,  1838. 
8  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  170. 
T  Ibid,  p.  629. 


102  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

country  at  large  as  well  as  to  the  poor  Indian.8  Trusting  to 
this  forlorn  hope  the  Indians  held  on,  and  removal  came  almost 
to  a  standstill.  Announcements  posted  throughout  the  Cher- 
okee Nation  that  a  handsome  steamboat  stood  ready  to  trans- 
port them  in  ease  and  luxury  to  the  new  country  aroused  no 
enthusiasm.  Published  addresses  describing  in  the  most  allur- 
ing terms  all  the  delights  which  the  Cherokees  could  secure  by 
removal  and  offering  advantages  the  most  exciting  made  no 
impression.  Garbled  documents  attempting  to  prove  that  Chief 
Ross  himself  had  consented  to  remove  were  unheeded.  Com- 
plaints went  up  to  Washington  again  and  again  that  the  Cher- 
okees "would  not  come  in."9 

The  Council  of  1836  adopted  resolutions  denouncing  the 
motives  of  the  United  States  commissioner  in  making  the 
treaty,  declaring  the  treaty  null  and  void  and  asserting  that  it 
could  never  in  justice  be  enforced  upon  the  nation.10  In  a 
memorial  to  the  President  praying  for  an  impartial  statement 
of  the  negotiations  of  the  treaty  they  piteously  invoked  the  "God 
of  truth  to  tear  away  every  disguise  and  concealment  from  their 
case,  the  God  of  justice  to  guide  the  President's  determination, 
and  the  God  of  mercy  to  stay  the  hand  of  their  brothers  up- 
lifted for  their  destruction."11  A  copy  of  this  memorial  and  the 
resolutions  transmitted  to  the  Secretary  of  War  by  General 
Wool  so  enraged  President  Jackson  that  he  expressed  his  sur- 
prise that  an  officer  in  the  army  should  have  received  or  trans- 
mitted a  paper  so  disrespectful  to  the  Executive,  the  Senate 
and  the  Amercian  people;  declared  his  settled  determination 
that  the  treat}r  should  be  carried  out  without  modification  and 
with  all  consistent  dispatch,  and  directed  that,  after  a  copy  of 
the  letter  should  have  been  transmitted  to  Ross,  no  further 
communication  by  mouth  or  writing  should  be  held  with  him 
concerning  the  treaty.  It  was  further  directed  that  no  council 
should  be  permitted  to  assemble  to  discuss  the  treaty.12     The 

8  Cherokee  Mss.  Collection,  Tahlequah,  Okla. 

9  Letter  of  John  Ross  in  Cherokee  Mss.  Collection. 

10  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  798.    Payne  Mss.  5,  Gen.  Order,  No.  74. 
n  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  807. 

u  Ibid,  pp.  186,  190.     Report  of  Indian  Commissioner,  1836,  p.  285. 


Opposition  to  the  Treaty  103 

President  was  determined  that  the  treaty  he  had  secured  with 
so  much  difficulty  should  not  miscarry  in  its  execution. 

But  the  Cherokees,  far  from  convinced,  kept  up  a  vigorous 
campaign  against  the  so-called  treaty.  In  order  to  enlist  the 
help  of  their  western  brethren  and  unite  the  efforts  of  the  two 
nations,  the  Council  of  this  year  had  appointed  a  delegation,  of 
which  Mr.  Ross  was  a  member,  to  visit  the  western  nation.  The 
United  States  agents  had  no  intimation  of  this  action  until  the 
delegation  had  already  set  out  for  the  west.  Major  Curry, 
furious  at  being  outwitted,  communicated  with  the  commis- 
sioner of  Indian  affairs  who  promptly  sent  strict  orders  to 
Fort  Gibson  to  have  the  principal  chief  arrested  if  he  should 
appear  there  and  begin  inciting  the  Indians  to  oppose  the 
treaty.13 

Mr.  Ross,  with  rare  tact  and  diplomacy,  paid  a  friendly 
visit  to  Agent  Stokes  of  the  western  nation  at  Bayou  Menard 
and  completely  disarmed  the  old  man  with  his  amiable,  quiet 
manner,14  won  over  the  chief,  John  Jolly,  succeeded  in  gaining 
the  promise  of  the  western  nation  to  oppose  the  treaty  and 
secured  the  appointment  of  a  delegation  to  Washington  to 
protest  against  it.  This  done,  he  and  his  party  quietly  de- 
parted and  reached  home,  having  eluded  and  outwitted  the 
United  States  authorities,  much  to  their  anger  and  chagrin.15 

Having  secured  the  cooperation  of  the  western  nation  a 
delegation  went  on  to  Washington  to  see  what  effect  their  com- 
bined forces  might  have  upon  the  new  administration.  On 
March  16  they  addressed  a  communication  through  Secretary 
Poinsett  to  the  President  asking  for  a  hearing,  requesting  that 
their  claims  might  be  investigated,  that  the  rightful  authorities 
be  dealt  with  and  that  the  results  of  the  investigation  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Cherokee  Nation.16  The  Secretary  of  War  re- 
plied that  the  treaty  of  New  Echota  had  been  ratified  con- 
stitutionally, but  that  any  measures  suggested  by  them  would 
receive  candid  examination,  if  not  consistent  with  the  treaty.17 

13  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  774;    also,  685. 

14  Ibid. 

15  This  was  in  January,  1837. 

16  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  99,  pp.  18-25. 

17  Ibid,  p.  24. 


104  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

President  Van  Buren  granted  Mr.  Ross  and  the  delegation  an 
interview  at  which  he  treated  them  politely,  even  cordially,  but 
told  them  frankly  that  nothing  could  be  done  to  alter  or  amend 
the  treaty. 

Meanwhile  the  condition  of  the  Indians  had  been  growing 
steadily  worse.  General  Wool  describes  the  whole  scene  in  the 
Cherokee  country  as  heartrending  and  such  a  one  as  he  would 
be  glad  to  get  rid  of  as  soon  as  circumstances  would  permit.  The 
white  men  were  hovering  like  vultures  watching  to  pounce  upon 
their  prey  and  strip  them  of  everything  they  had.  He  pre- 
dicted that  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  would  go  penniless 
to  the  west.18  "I  am  surprised,"  he  said,  "that  the  Cherokees 
have  not  risen  in  their  might  and  destroyed  every  resident  white 
man  in  the  country."19  General  Dunlap  in  command  of  the  East 
Tennessee  troops  called  out  to  quell  the  rumored  insurrection  in 
1836,  soon  found  that  the  Indians,  not  the  whites,  needed  pro- 
tection, in  furnishing  them  which  he  excited  the  hatred  of  the 
lawless  rabble  of  Georgia  who,  he  declared,  had  long  played  the 
part  of  petty  tyrants.  He  finally  decided  he  would  never  dis- 
honor the  Tennessee  arms  in  a  servile  service  by  aiding  in  carry- 
ing into  execution  at  the  point  of  a  bayonet  a  treaty  made  by  a 
lean  minority  against  the  will  and  authority  of  the  Cherokee 
people,  and  disbanding  his  brigade  he  went  home  in  disgust.20 

Even  the  members  of  the  Treaty  party  to  whom  the  govern- 
ment was  deeply  indebted  did  not  go  scatheless.  Returning 
from  Washington  after  the  final  arrangements  of  the  treaty 
had  been  completed  they  found  their  plantations  taken  and 
suits  instituted  against  them  for  back  rents  on  their  own 
farms.  They  were  in  danger  day  and  night  from  the  rabble 
who  flogged  Indian  men,  women  and  children  with  hickories 
and  clubs,  even  constables  and  justices  of  the  peace  being  con- 
cerned in  the  mistreatment.  Major  Ridge  in  a  letter  to  the 
President  declared  that  unless  given  protection  by  the  United 
States  the  Indians  would  carry  nothing  with  them  to  their  new 

18  Ibid,  p.  648. 

19  Ibid,  p.  82. 

20  National  Intelligencer,  May  24,  1838. 


Opposition  to  the  Treaty  105 

homes  but  the  scars  of  the  lash  on  their  backs.21  Through  all 
their  afflictions  and  tribulations,  however,  the  Indians  remained 
so  consistently  opposed  to  emigration  that  not  one  of  them  who 
attended  the  meeting  called  by  General  Wool  in  January,  1837, 
would  receive  rations  or  clothing  from  the  United  States  for 
fear  they  might  compromise  themselves,  preferring  to  live  upon 
the  roots  and  the  sap  of  trees.  Thousands  of  them  had  no  other 
food  for  weeks. 

John  Mason,  who  was  sent  in  July,  1837,  as  a  confidential 
agent  of  the  War  Department  to  investigate  conditions  among 
the  Indians,  was  convinced  that  opposition  to  the  treaty  was 
unanimous,  irreconcilable  and  sincere.  The  Cherokees  claimed 
that  they  did  not  make  the  treaty  and  it  could  not  bind  them; 
that  it  was  made  by  a  few  unauthorized  individuals  and  the 
nation  was  not  a  party  to  it.  With  all  his  influence  with  them, 
and  Mason  believed  that  the  mass  of  the  nation,  especially  the 
mountain  Indians,  would  stand  or  fall  with  their  chief,22  Ross 
could  not  stem  the  tide  of  sentiment  against  removal.  If  he  had 
advised  the  Cherokees  at  this  time  to  acknowledge  the  treaty 
he  would  have  forfeited  their  confidence  and  probably  his  life.23 
His  influence  was  constantly  exerted  to  preserve  peace,  the 
reports  of  his  enemies  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Oppo- 
sition to  the  treaty  was  sincere  and  sprang  from  a  love  of 
country  and  was  not  a  political  game  played  by  Ross  to  main- 
tain his  ascendency  in  the  tribe.  When  Colonel  Lindsay  who 
succeeded  General  Wool24  was  given  authority  in  the  summer 
of  1837  to  arrest  Ross  and  turn  him  over  to  the  civil  authorities 
if  he  did  anything  further  to  encourage  the  Cherokees  in  their 
hostilities  to  removal,  he  sought  in  vain  for  some  excuse  to 
carry  out  his  instructions. 

Regardless  of  threats  a  council  was  called  for  July  31  to 
which  Mr.  Mason  was  dispatched  with  instructions  to  traverse 
and  correct  any  misstatements  that  might  be  made  by  John  Ross 

21  Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120,  p.  607. 

22  The  Treaty  party  had  already  gone  west  with  the  exception  of  those 
who  had  remained  to  assist  the  Government  in  carrying  out  the  treaty. 
National  Intelligencer,  May  24,  1838. 

28  Cong.  Doc.  325,  No.  82,  pp.  3-5. 
24  May,  1837. 


106  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

and  his  followers,25  and,  if  need  be,  prohibit  the  assembling  of 
the  Council. 

Mr.  Ross  met  these  trying  situations  with  a  quiet  dignity 
of  manner,  a  strength  of  purpose  and  a  clearness  of  brain  that 
could  not  but  inspire  with  confidence  the  minds  of  the  harassed 
multitude  of  Indians  who  came  to  rely  upon  him  with  a  respect 
and  affection  akin  to  reverence.  At  his  humble  home  in  Ten- 
nessee he  dispensed  hospitality  to  high  and  low  without  dis- 
crimination, and  to  the  poor  full-bloods  who  were  reduced  to 
desperate  straits  he  was  not  only  a  chief,  but  a  brother  in 
adversity. 

To  the  white  men  whose  plans  and  schemes  he  had  so  often 
thwarted,  Ross  appeared  in  an  entirely  different  guise.  Major 
Curry  regarded  him  with  hatred  beyond  expression  and  treated 
him  with  a  contempt  that  would  have  been  unendurable  to  one 
of  less  self-control.  The  agent's  attempts,  through  dark  and 
devious  courses,  to  alienate  the  Indians  from  their  leader  were 
notorious  and  his  methods  of  dealing  with  the  aborigines,  with- 
out the  shadow  of  honor.  No  one  was  more  cordially  hated  and 
thoroughly  feared  by  them.  Peyton  of  Tennessee  denounced 
him  and  Schermerhorn  in  the  House  in  1836  as  "the  two  worst 
agents  that  could  have  been  selected  in  all  God's  creation."26 
His  death  in  December,  1836,  caused  a  sense  of  relief  through- 
out the  Cherokee  Nation.  It  was  the  opinion  of  General  Wool 
that  if  he  had  lived  long  enough  he  would  have  been  killed  by 
the  Indians.27  Nathan  Smith  who  succeeded  him  was  a  man  of 
honor  and  integrity  who  finally  overcame  much  of  the  preju- 
dice which  he  at  first  entertained  towards  Mr.  Ross. 

With  Governor  Lumpkin  it  was  a  different  story.  He 
naturally  had  no  love  for  the  Indians  who  encumbered  the  soil 
of  Georgia,  saw  no  good  in  them  and  believed  that  the  only 
good  Indian  was  the  dead  Indian.  All  his  racial  antipathy 
seems  to  have  become  concentrated  against  Mr.  Ross,  whose 
character  he  assailed,  whose  motives  he  misrepresented  and 
whose  acts  and  conduct  he  distorted  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 

25  Cong.  Doc.  325,  No.  99,  pp.  26-32. 

26  Congressional  Globe,  24th  Congress,  p.  477. 

27  Gen.  Wool  to  Sec.  of  War,  June  3,  1837.    Cong.  Doc.  315,  No.  120. 


Opposition  to  the  Treaty  107 

countenancing  him  before  the  Federal  Government.  He  refused 
to  recognize  his  chieftainship  and  urged  the  government  to  do 
so,  not  on  the  ground  of  justice,  but  of  policy,  acknowledging 
that  if  Ross  and  his  party  were  recognized  the  validity  of  the 
treaty  could  be  called  in  question.28  He  even  went  so  far  as  to 
say  that  Mr.  Ross  ought  to  be  "put  in  strings  and  banished  from 
the  country;  that  although  a  large  slaveholder  he  was  well 
qualified  to  fill  a  prominent  place  amongst  the  New  England 
abolitionists  or  in  the  Republic  of  Hayti,"  and  that  to  one  of 
these  places  he  wished  to  see  him  emigrate.  He  considered  Ross 
the  soul  and  spirit  of  the  whole  opposition.  To  the  Georgian 
this  Scotch  Indian  was  a  "subtle  and  sagacious  man"  who,  under 
the  guise  of  an  unassuming  deportment,  concealed  an  unsur- 
passed arrogance  and  by  his  dignified,  reserved  manner 
"acquired  credit  for  talents  and  wisdom  which  he  never  pos- 
sessed."29 

Fearing  some  change  of  Indian  policy  from  the  Van  Buren 
administration,  Mr.  Lumpkin  hastened  to  redouble  his  energies 
in  fortifying  the  mind  of  the  new  executive  against  the  strat- 
agems of  the  wily  chief.  Writing  the  Secretary  of  War  in  the 
summer  of  1837  he  warned  him  that  Mr.  Ross  was  the  master 
spirit  of  opposition  to  the  execution  of  the  treaty  on  whose 
movements  he  would  keep  a  watchful  eye  so  far  as  circumstances 
would  allow.  For  he  was  a  reserved,  obscure  and  wary  politi- 
cian.30 It  is  not  strange  therefore  that  the  President  became 
more  and  more  reluctant  to  hold  intercourse  with  Mr.  Ross 
and  his  party. 

Pressure  for  removal  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Lump- 
kin31 became  more  constant  and  uniform,  but  when  the  end  of 
the  year  approached  without  any  indication  of  an  intention 
on  the  part  of  the  Indians  to  go  west,  the  United  States  com- 
missioners and  agents  issued  a  proclamation32  stating  that 
according  to   the   treaty   they  now  had   only   five  months   in 

28  Cong.  Doc.  325,  No.  82,  p.  10. 

29  Lumpkin,  Removal  of  the  Cherokees,  pp.  229,  230. 

30  Cong.  Doc.  325,  No.  82,  p.  11. 

81  Mr.  Lumpkin  entered  the  Senate  in  Dec.,  1837,  and  from  that  vantage 
point  wielded  the  fatal  blows  to  the  last  lingering  hopes  of  the  Cherokees. 
32  Dec.  28,  1838. 


108  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

which  to  remove,  and  they  were  not  to  be  deceived  by  the  hope 
that  a  longer  time  would  be  given  them.  The  treaty,  it  de- 
clared, would  be  executed  without  change  or  alteration  and 
another  day  beyond  the  time  named33  would  not  be  allowed  to 
them.  They  were  warned  to  rely  no  longer  upon  John  Ross 
and  his  friends  who  had  been  misleading  them  and  subjecting 
them  to  pecuniary  losses.  The  executive  had  declined  all  fur- 
ther intercourse  with  Mr.  Ross  and  an  end  had  been  put  to  all 
negotiations  upon  the  subject.34  To  which  the  Cherokee  dele- 
gation then  in  Washington  replied  in  a  memorial  that  the  New 
Echota  treaty  was  an  outrage  on  the  primary  rules  of  national 
intercourse,  as  well  as  of  the  known  laws  and  usages  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation  and  was  therefore  destitute  of  any  binding 
force  upon  them. 

"For  adhering  to  the  principles  on  which  your  great  empire 
is  founded,  and  which  has  advanced  to  its  present  elevation  and 
glory,  are  we  to  be  despoiled  of  all  we  hold  dear  on  earth?" 
they  asked.  "Are  we  to  be  hunted  through  the  mountains  like 
wild  beasts  and  our  women  and  our  children,  our  aged,  our 
sick,  to  be  dragged  from  their  homes  like  culprits  and  packed 
on  board  loathsome  boats,  for  transportation  to  a  sickly 
clime?"35 

Cherokee  removal  and  the  New  Echota  treaty  called  forth 
strong  remonstrance  from  some  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of 
the  country  who  denounced  the  policy  of  the  administration  in 
vigorous  terms.  Webster  and  Everett  of  Massachusetts,  Fre- 
linghuysen  of  New  Jersey,  Sprague  of  Maine,  Storrs  of  New 
York,  Crockett  of  Tennessee  and  Clay  of  Kentucky  protested 
strongly  against  it.  It  became  almost  a  party  question,  the 
Democrats  supporting  Jackson,  the  Whigs  condemning  him. 
Henry  Clay  considered  that  the  chief  magistrate  had  inflicted  a 
deep  wound  on  the  American  people.36  Webster  remarked  in  the 
Senate  in  May,  1838,  that  there  was  a  growing  feeling  that 
great  wrong  had  been  done  the  Cherokees  by  the  treaty  of  New 

33  May  23. 

84  Cong.  Doc.  329,  No.  316,  p.  5. 

85  Ibid,  pp.  1-4. 

88  Cong.  Doc.  315,  120.  Letter  of  Henry  Clay  to  John  Gunter,  Sept.  30, 
1836. 


Opposition  to  the  Treaty  109 

Echota.37  "Speeches  in  Congress,"  says  Benton,  "were  char- 
acterized by  a  depth  and  bitterness  of  feeling  such  as  have  never 
been  excelled  on  the  slavery  question."38  Calhoun  of  Tennessee 
did  not  regard  the  New  Echota  treaty  as  a  binding  contract 
at  all  since  only  about  twenty  out  of  eighteen  thousand  assented 
to  it.39  Wise  declared  that  it  was  not  a  bona  fide  treaty.  The 
Cherokee  Nation  had  never  agreed  to  it  and  now  almost  unani- 
mously protested  against  it.  The  whole  proceedings  in  rela- 
tion to  the  negotiations  he  declared  a  fraud  upon  the  Indians.40 
Schermerhorn  he  stigmatized  as  a  "raw  head  and  bloody  bones" 
to  the  ignorant  Indians  while  their  chiefs  were  at  Washington 
and  he  had  made  what  he  called  a  treaty  with  a  very  small 
portion  of  the  Cherokees.  Henry  A.  Wise  with  eloquent  words 
in  a  speech  in  the  House  paid  high  tribute  to  John  Ross  as  the 
man  who  had  swam  the  river  at  the  battle  of  the  Horse  Shoe 
and,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  had  brought  away  the  canoes  which 
enabled  the  Jackson  forces  to  gain  the  victory  over  the  Creeks. 
"And  now  he  is  turned  out  of  his  dwelling  by  a  Georgia  Guard 
and  his  property  all  given  over  to  others.  This  is  the  faith 
of  a  Christian  nation.  John  Ross  is  known  by  many  members 
of  the  House  to  be  an  honest,  intelligent  man  worthy  to  sit 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  let  alone  the  councils  of  an 
Indian  tribe."41  His  objection  to  the  treaty,  Wise  considered 
an  honest  one,  and  declared  that  Ross,  the  Indian  chief  from 
Georgia,  would  at  any  time  compare  favorably  in  intellect 
and  moral  honesty  with  Forsythe,  a  member  of  Van  Buren's 
cabinet,  from  the  same  state.42 

A  memorial  of  the  Cherokee  delegation  in  the  winter  of 
1838  was  laid  on  the  table  in  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  36  to  16, 
and  others  from  citizens  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Jersey  requesting  an  inquiry  into  the  validity 
of  the  New  Echota  treaty  met  a  similar  fate  in  the  House.  Dis- 
cussions of  these  memorials  brought  out  expressions  of  sym- 
pathy for  the  Indians  and  admiration  for  their  principal  chief 
i]but  took  no  practical  form  for  their  relief. 

87  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  session,  25th  Congress,  p.  404. 

38  Benton's  Thirty  Years'  View,  Vol.  I,  p.  625. 

89  Cong.  Globe,  24th  Congress,  p.  477. 

40  Ibid. 

a  Cong.  Globe,  25th  Congress,  p.  68. 

42  Ibid. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Compulsoey  Removal 

Through  the  winter  and  spring  of  1838  Mr.  Ross  con- 
tinued protesting  against  the  validity  of  the  treaty,  remon- 
strating against  its  execution  and  seeking  to  secure  a  more 
favorable  one  made  with  the  legally  constituted  authorities  of 
the  Cherokees.  "We  will  not  recognize  the  forgery  palmed 
off  upon  the  world  as  a  treaty  by  a  knot  of  unauthorized  in- 
dividuals", he  declared,  "nor  stir  one  step  with  reference  to 
that  false  paper".1  And  yet,  although  it  was  the  wish  of  the 
Cherokees  to  remain  on  "the  soil  of  their  ancestors  inherited 
from  the  common  Father  of  us  all",  they  were  at  length,  under 
the  necessity  of  circumstances,  ready  to  go  west  if  the  Federal 
Government  would  pay  them  for  their  land  far  less  than  it 
asked  for  the  wildest  of  its  own.  Removal  by  compulsion,  he 
pointed  out,  would  prove  more  expensive  than  a  new  treaty, 
and,  aside  from  the  question  of  the  faith  of  treaties,  the  Federal 
Government  could  well  afford  to  do  itself  and  the  Indians  the 
justice  for  which  they  were  pleading.  He  was  supported  in  his 
appeals  by  memorials  and  petitions  from  various  parts  of  the 
country,  particularly  from  Pennsylvania  and  Massachusetts, 
praying  for  a  repeal  of  the  Schermerhorn  treaty  on  the  ground 
that  it  did  not  represent  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  Chero- 
kee people. 

The  friends  of  removal  in  general  and  Mr.  Lumpkin  in  par- 
ticular, always  keenly  alert  and  on  the  defensive  where  the 
Indian  question  was  concerned,  met  these  protests  and  peti- 
tions with  arguments  astonishingly  naive,  to  say  the  least,  when 
compared  with  the  logical  and  convincing  reasoning  advanced 
by  Chief  Ross  and  the  memorialists.  The  idea  of  submitting 
a  treaty  to  an  Indian  people  to  be  decided  upon  "the  broadest 
basis  of  democracy"  was  scoffed  at  by  the  Senator  who  main- 
tained that  "it  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  wise  and 
good  everywhere  that  the  treaty  was  negotiated  on  behalf  of 

1  Letter  of  John  Ross  to  Penn.  House  of  Rep.,  May,  1838.  Cher.  Mss. 
Records,  Tahlequah,  Okla. 


Compulsory  Removal  111 

the  Cherokees  by  the  most  enlightened  and  patriotic  Indian 
men  who  ever  negotiated  a  treaty,  and  that  it  secured  to  the 
whole  people  more  signal  advantages  than  were  ever  before 
secured  to  an  Indian  people  by  treaty  entered  into  with  this 
Government".2  As  evidences  of  the  superior  advantages  to  be 
gained  by  removal  he  read  to  the  Senate3  a  letter  from  John 
Ridge,  who  had  already  located  in  the  west,  picturing  in  the 
most  alluring  terms  the  beauties  of  the  western  nation,  the 
richness  of  the  soil,  the  healthfulness  of  the  climate  and  all  the 
other  natural  advantages  which  in  his  judgment  far  surpassed 
those  of  the  Eastern  Country.  Why  the  Cherokees  refused  to 
emigrate  to  a  land  where  such  superior  opportunities  and  ad- 
vantages awaited  them  was  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the 
Senator  from  Georgia  and  he  was  of  the  opinion  that  people 
of  such  poor  discrimination  should  be  treated  "as  minors  and 
orphans  and  other  persons  who  are  incompetent  to  take  charge 
of  their  own  rights".4 

Unfortunately  for  the  Cherokees,  Mr.  Lumpkin  was  more 
proficient  in  political  manipulation  than  strong  in  logical  con- 
sistency, and  so  alert  were  he  and  his  supporters,  and  so  strong 
their  determination  to  carry  out  their  Indian  policy  that  all  the 
efforts  of  Ross  and  his  friends  in  Washington  to  secure  the  ab- 
rogation of  the  treaty  were  circumvented  and  blocked  at  every 
point,  while  May  was  fast  approaching  and  the  time  drawing 
near  for  removing  Indian  encumbrance  from  the  soil  of  the 
sovereign  states  of  Georgia,  Alabama  and  Tennessee. 

As  for  the  mass  of  the  Cherokee  people,  two  years  of  threats 
and  promises  had  failed  to  bring  them  to  admit  the  validity 
of  the  treaty,  or  to  show  any  inclination  to  emigrate  of  their 
own  accord.  The  failure  of  their  delegation  to  secure  the  re- 
peal of  the  treaty  did  not  weaken  their  determination  to  stand 
for  their  rights.  Even  the  threats  of  fresh  troops  sent  into 
the  country  to  put  down  opposition  failed  to  terrify  them  into 
submission  or  frighten  them  into  abandoning  such  haunts  as 
had  been  spared  them  on  account  of  the  nature  of  the  country, 

2  Lumpkin,  Removal  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  208. 

3  May  15.    Ibid,  p.  201 ;   National  Intelligencer,  May  24,  1835. 

4  Lumpkin,  Removal  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  198. 


112  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

and  to  which  they  stubbornly  clung,  unsubdued  yet  unre- 
sisting. 

When  it  had  become  perfectly  evident  that  removal  could 
be  accomplished  only  by  sheer  brute  force,  protests  from  the 
country  at  large  became  so  vehement  that  the  administration 
began  to  look  for  a  way  to  satisfy  public  sentiment  without 
antagonizing  the  states  concerned.  As  a  result  the  President, 
early  in  May,  proposed  as  a  compromise  to  extend  the  time  of 
removal  two  years.5  This  suggestion  promptly  met  with  such 
strong  opposition  from  Governor  Gilmer  that  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
the  diplomatic,  had  to  back  out  of  this  position  as  gracefully 
as  he  might  and  allow  the  treaty  to  take  its  course.6 

As  a  result  of  pressure  brought  to  bear  by  executive  ma- 
chinery between  the  adoption  of  the  New  Echota  treaty  and 
January,  1838,  about  two  thousand  Cherokees  had  emigrated. 
Something  more  than  thirteen  thousand  remained  in  the  Cher- 
okee Nation  East,  in  the  spring  of  1838.  The  President,  con- 
vinced that  they  would  not  remove  without  compulsion,  dis- 
patched General  Winfield  Scott  to  the  Cherokee  country  to 
take  command  of  the  troops  already  there  and  to  collect  an 
additional  force  comprising  a  regiment  each  of  artillery  and 
infantry  and  six  companies  of  volunteers,  a  sufficient  force,  un- 
questionably, to  overawe  the  disarmed  and  starving  natives  and 
compel  submission.7  In  case  he  found  it  necessary,  however, 
the  military  commander  was  authorized  to  call  upon  the  gover- 
nors of  the  neighboring  states  for  voluntary  militia. 

General  Scott  took  up  his  headquarters  at  New  Echota, 
the  former  capital  of  the  nation,  whence  he  issued  a  procla- 
mation announcing  that  the  President  had  sent  him  with  a 
powerful  army  to  cause  the  Cherokees,  in  obedience  to  the  treaty 
of  1835,  to  join  their  brethren  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  be- 
fore another  moon  had  passed  every  man,  woman  and  child 
must  be  on  the  way  to  the  west.8 

In  order  to  carry  out  his  instructions  to  remove  the  Indians 
at  all  hazards  he  began  enrolling  and  collecting  them  at  such 

6  Cong.  Doc.  330,  No.  421,  pp.  2,  17. 

6  Ibid,  p.  4. 

7  There  were  as  many  soldiers  as  adult  Indians.    Payne  Mss.  6,  pp.  13-38. 

8  Cong.  Doc.  329,  No.  316,  p.  7. 


Compulsory  Removal  113 

a  rate  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  work  the  greatest  hardship 
upon  them.  Stockade  forts  were  built  at  convenient  places  and 
squads  of  soldiers  were  sent  into  the  surrounding  country  with 
guns,  bayonets,  swords  and  pistols  to  search  every  cave  and 
hillside  for  the  natives  who  were  driven  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  and  the  muzzle  of  the  musket  into  one  of  the  camps. 
Accounts  are  given  of  such  revolting  deeds  of  cruelty  and  inhu- 
manity perpetrated  upon  the  helpless  victims  as  seem  impos- 
sible to  have  occurred  in  a  civilized  nation. 

Mr.  Mooney,  after  having  talked  with  some  of  the  Cherokees 
who  had  gone  through  the  "Reign  of  Terror",  gives  this  vivid 
account  of  it:  "Families  at  dinner  were  startled  by  the  sudden 
gleam  of  bayonets  in  the  doorway  and  rose  up  to  be  driven 
with  blows  and  oaths  along  the  weary  miles  of  trail  that  led 
to  the  stockade.  Men  were  seized  in  their  fields,  or  going  along 
the  road,  women  were  taken  from  their  wheels  and  children 
from  their  play.  In  many  cases  on  turning  for  one  last  look 
as  they  crossed  the  ridge  they  saw  their  homes  in  flames  fired 
by  the  lawless  rabble  that  followed  on  the  heels  of  the  soldiers 
to  loot  and  pillage.  So  keen  were  the  outlaws  on  the  scent  that, 
in  some  instances,  they  were  driving  off  the  cattle  and  other 
stock  of  the  Indians  almost  before  the  soldiers  had  started  the 
owners  in  the  opposite  direction",9  and  ghouls  were  searching 
Indian  graves  for  the  silver  pendants  and  other  valuables 
deposited  with  the  dead. 

In  order  to  take  the  Indians  completely  by  surprise  and 
prevent  all  possibility  of  escape  the  soldiers  were  ordered  to 
approach  and  surround  the  houses  as  noiselessly  as  possible. 
One  aged  full-blood,  finding  himself  so  surrounded,  calmly  called 
his  household  of  children  and  grandchildren  about  him  and 
kneeling  prayed  with  them  in  their  own  language,  the  soldiers 
standing  by  in  shamefaced  astonishment.  Rising  from  their 
devotions  they  were  warned  by  the  soldiers  to  make  no  needless 
preparations  but  to  be  off  at  once,  and  were  hurried  away  each 
one  carrying  such  necessary  belongings  or  cherished  possessions 
as  he  could  quickly  lay  hands  on,  even  the  little  children  grasp- 
ing in  their  hands  or  hugging  to  their  hearts  some  childish 

"Mooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  130. 


114  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

treasure — a  bow  and  arrows,  a  blow  gun,  a  string  of  beads  or 
perhaps  a  battered  rag  baby.  Those  who  attempted  to  escape 
were  shot  down  like  criminals.  The  story  is  told  of  a  deaf  boy 
who  upon  seeing  the  soldiers  coming  was  panic  stricken  and 
started  to  run  away.  When  he  failed  to  respond  to  the  order  to 
halt,  a  musket  was  leveled  at  him  and  he  fell  lifeless  to  the 
ground.10 

Those  who  were  utterly  unable  to  travel,  the  helpless  aged 
and  the  mortally  ill,  were  left  in  remote  cabins  to  die  of  starva- 
tion and  neglect.  Children  were  separated  from  parents  who, 
in  some  cases,  never  saw  them  again  nor  knew  what  fate  befell 
them.  A  few  women  and  children,  warned  of  the  coming  of  the 
soldiers,  fled  to  inaccessible  mountain  fastnesses  and  hid  in 
caves  to  perish  of  starvation,  while  the  men  were  hunted  and 
trapped  like  wild  beasts. 

Old  men,  delicate  women  and  little  children  were  driven  like 
cattle11  until  strength  failed  them  and  they  fell  fainting  by  the 
roadside.  When  brutal  kicks  and  saber  thrusts  could  not  rouse 
them  to  further  effort  they  were  loaded  into  wagons  and  hauled 
over  rough  mountain  roads  to  the  stockades ;  or,  where  wagons 
were  wanting,  left  to  recover  or  die  as  they  might,  while  friends 
and  family,  pricked  on  by  the  bayonet,  were  not  permitted  to 
minister  to  their  necessity.12 

At  night  sick  and  well  were  forced  to  lie  upon  the  bare 
ground  in  the  open  with  no  protection  from  the  weather  and 
herd  together  for  warmth,  like  hogs.  Not  infrequently  death 
relieved  them  from  their  suffering  before  the  journey  was  com- 
pleted. In  that  case  the  soldiers  were  considered  quite  humane 
who  stopped  long  enough  to  dig  for  a  grave  a  shallow  trench 
by  the  roadside  and  fling  a  few  shovelfulls  of  earth  over  the 
lifeless  body. 

Submission  was  the  rule  among  the  Indians,  but  there  were 
occasional  exceptions  as  in  the  case  of  Tsali,  or  Charley,  an  old 
man  who,  with  his  wife,  a  brother  and  three  sons,  two  of  whom 

10  Payne  Mss.  9,  pp.  23-25. 

11  The  same  language  was  used  in  driving  them  as  is  commonly  used  in 
driving  cattle  and  hogs. 

u  Payne  Mss.  9,  pp.  23-25. 


Compulsory  Removal  115 

had  families,  while  the  third  was  a  mere  lad,  were  surrounded, 
taken  captive  by  the  soldiers,  and  men,  women  and  children 
were  started  on  foot  to  one  of  the  stockades.  Tsali's  wife,  a 
frail  and  delicate  woman,  unable  to  keep  up  with  the  others, 
was  prodded  on  like  a  brute  by  the  bayonets  of  the  soldiers. 
The  old  man,  goaded  to  desperation  by  the  sight  of  this  bru- 
tality and  his  wife's  suffering,  suggested  to  the  others  that  they 
make  a  dash  for  liberty.  As  the  conversation  was  carried  on  in 
Cherokee  the  soldiers  did  not  understand  it  and  when  each  war- 
rior suddenly  leaped  upon  the  nearest  white  man  the  surprise 
was  so  complete  that  one  soldier  was  killed  while  the  rest  fled  in 
confusion.  The  Indians  escaped  to  the  mountains  where  they 
were  joined  by  numbers  of  their  tribesmen  who  had  either  es- 
caped from  the  stockades  or  had  succeeded  in  eluding  the 
soldiers. 

Among  them  was  an  Indian  named  Euchela,  who  with  a 
band  of  a  hundred  followers,  belonged  to  the  class  of  outlaws. 
Having  failed  in  every  attempt  to  take  the  fugitives  by  force, 
General  Scott  determined  to  try  reconciliation  with  a  part  of 
them.  Colonel  W.  H.  Thomas,  a  trader  well  known  to  the  In- 
dians, was  chosen  to  make  overtures  to  Euchela  and  his  warriors, 
promising  that,  if  they  would  surrender  Tsali  and  his  family, 
they  would  be  permitted  to  remain  in  Carolina  and  "be  at 
peace"  until  their  case  could  be  adjusted  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. "I  cannot  be  at  peace",  Euchela  declared,  "because  it 
is  now  a  whole  year  that  your  soldiers  have  hunted  me  like 
a  wild  deer.  I  have  suffered  more  than  I  can  bear.  I  had  a 
wife  and  a  little  child,  a  bright  eyed  boy,  and  because  I  would 
not  become  your  slave  they  were  left  to  starve  upon  the  moun- 
tains and  I  buried  them  with  my  own  hands  at  midnight".13 
Finally,  however,  he  was  induced  to  accept  the  overtures  of 
General  Scott,  and  summoning  his  warriors  with  a  whoop  he 
laid  the  proposition  before  them.  After  much  hesitation  they, 
too,  were  prevailed  upon  to  agree  to  the  offer. 

Tsali,  hearing  of  this  compromise  and  knowing  that  his 
fate  was  sealed,  came  in  voluntarily  with  his  brother  and  his 
two  eldest  sons  and  surrendered.     They  were  tried  by  court- 

"Lanman,  Letters  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  p.  110. 


116  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

martial  and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  Bound  to  the  tree  where  he 
was  to  be  executed  the  old  man  asked  to  be  permitted  to  speak 
and  the  request  was  granted.  "I  am  not  afraid  to  die,"  he  is 
reported  to  have  said,  "0  no,  I  want  to  die,  for  my  heart  is 
very  heavy,  heavier  than  lead."  Turning  to  Euchela  he  con- 
tinued, "But,  Euchela,  there  is  one  favor  I  wish  to  ask  at 
your  hands.  You  know  I  have  a  little  boy  who  was  lost  among 
the  mountains.  I  want  you  to  find  that  boy  if  he  is  not  dead 
and  tell  him  that  the  last  words  of  his  father  were  that  he 
must  never  go  beyond  the  Father  of  Waters,  but  die  in  the  land 
of  his  birth.  It  is  sweet  to  die  in  one's  native  land  and  be 
buried  by  the  margin  of  one's  native  streams."14  When  he  had 
finished  speaking  the  bandages  were  placed  over  his  eyes  and 
the  execution  proceeded.  Some  delay  having  occurred  in  the 
arrangement,  he  uncovered  his  eyes  to  see  a  dozen  of  his  tribes- 
men in  the  very  act  of  firing.  Calmly  and  deliberately  he  re- 
placed the  cloth  and  the  next  moment  was  writhing  in  his 
lifeblood.  General  Scott  had  commanded  that  a  dozen  Chero- 
kee prisoners  be  compelled  to  do  the  shooting  in  order  to  im- 
press upon  the  Indians  the  helplessness  of  their  situation. 
Tsali's  youngest  son,  Wasituna,  was  finally  pardoned  because 
of  his  youth  and  allowed  to  remain  in  North  Carolina,  thus 
fulfilling  his  father's  wish  that  he  might  die  in  the  land  of 
his  birth.15 

Colonel  Z.  A.  Ziles,  of  the  Georgia  Militia,  who  was  after- 
wards an  officer  in  the  Confederate  army,  in  describing  to  Mr. 
Mooney  this  chapter  of  Cherokee  history  in  which  he  himself 
took  part,  said,  "I  fought  through  the  Civil  War  and  have  seen 
men  shot  to  pieces  and  slaughtered  by  the  thousands  but  the 
Cherokee  removal  was  the  crudest  work  I  ever  knew."16 

Conditions  in  the  stockades  were  in  keeping  with  the  whole 
policy  of  forcible  eviction.  Musty  corn  meal  and  fat  salt  pork 
or  rank  bacon  were  the  only  food  furnished  by  removal  officers 
who  had  let  the  contracts  for  furnishing  subsistence  at  war 
prices.     This  was  the  time  of  year,  too,  when  the  natives  were 

"Lanman's  Letters  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  p.  113. 

» Ibid. 

"  Mooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  131. 


Compulsory  Removal  117 

accustomed  to  fresh  fruits  and  vegetables  in  abundance. 
Women  pleaded  in  vain  for  permission  to  go  out  and  hunt  for 
wild  berries,  onions  and  greens  for  their  families.  There  was 
no  milk  even  for  the  little  children.  Old  and  young,  sick  and 
well,  were  compelled  to  eat  the  corn  hoe  cake  and  the  fried 
bacon  or  perish  of  starvation. 

The  medical  aid  was  hopelessly,  even  criminally,  inadequate 
and  incompetent.  One  of  the  doctors  proved  to  be  a  dentist 
who  drew  his  salary  regularly,  but  an  Indian  molar,  never. 
Dentists  were  superfluous  among  the  Cherokees  at  this  time. 
It  was  good  sound  medical  attention  the  prisoners  needed  but 
failed  to  get.  After  several  sudden  deaths  had  occurred,  the 
suspicion  was  aroused  that  the  doctors  were  poisoning  them 
and  they  refused  to  take  the  medicine.17  The  herbs,  whose 
medicinal  properties  they  had  known  from  time  immemorial 
and  which  they  would  have  gathered  and  brewed  so  eagerly, 
were  denied  them.  No  provision  was  made  for  sanitation  and 
the  camps  were  soon  filthy  and  swarming  with  vermin.  Fever 
and  dysentery  were  rampant  and  infant  mortality  during  the 
summer  months  was  appalling.  Add  to  these  conditions  the 
facts  that  whiskey  was  allowed  to  be  brought  into  the  camps 
and  sold  freely  to  the  military,  and  that  drunken  soldiers  had 
no  regard  for  the  sanctity  of  Cherokee  womanhood  when  it 
was  at  their  mercy,  and  the  picture  of  the  last  extremity  to 
which  the  captives  could  be  reduced  is  complete. 

The  stockades  were  so  strongly  guarded  that  escape  from 
them  was  most  difficult  indeed,  while  leave  of  absence  was  denied 
to  everyone  on  general  principles.  A  few  captives,  however, 
succeeded  in  eluding  the  pickets  and  escaping,  some  to  go  in 
search  of  lost  members  of  their  families,  and  others  to  look  after 
the  old  and  sick  who  had  been  left  behind.  The  Georgia  Guard 
promptly  captured  part  of  them,  gave  them  a  hundred  lashes 
on  the  bare  back  in  punishment  of  their  crime  and  then  returned 
them  to  the  stockade  with  dire  threats  of  what  would  happen 
should  the  offense  be  repeated. 

When  a  sufficient  number  had  been  gathered  into  the  stock- 
ades the  work  of  removal  began.    Early  in  June  several  parties 

17  Payne  Mss.  9,  pp.  23-25. 


118  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

aggregating  about  five  hundred  were  brought  down  to  the  old 
agency  on  the  Hiwassee  River,18  to  Ross's  Landing19  and  to 
Gunter's  Landing.20  Here  they  were  forced  into  filthy  and  un- 
safe boats  and  sent  down  the  river.  In  one  instance  so  many 
were  crowded  into  an  unseaworthy  steamer  as  to  cause  it  to 
threaten  to  sink.  The  surplus  was  thereupon  hastily  and  in- 
discriminately unloaded,  separating  children  from  parents, 
husbands  from  wives,  who  were  not  to  be  reunited  until  months 
afterwards  when  they  met  in  the  west.21  These  boats  were  sent 
down  the  Tennessee  to  Mussel  Shoals  where  a  transfer  was 
made  and  the  journey  continued  to  Little  Rock,  and  a  second 
landing  made.  There  in  the  heat  of  summer  the  emigrants  were 
compelled  to  await  the  convenience  of  removal  officers,  some- 
times for  weeks,  before  they  could  proceed  to  Indian  Territory. 
Much  sickness  and  many  deaths  resulted  from  the  long  and 
wearisome  voyage  in  the  sickly  season  of  the  year. 

From  first  to  last  the  forcible  removal  of  the  Cherokees 
was  strangely  bungled.  Contracts  had  been  let  to  incompetent 
officials  who  neglected  to  provide  adequate  means  of  transpor- 
tation, particularly  wagons  for  the  land  route,  and  a  sufficient 
supply  of  provisions ;  they  also  failed  to  establish  depots  of 
supplies  along  the  way,  a  very  important  oversight  when  it  is 
remembered  that  much  of  the  country  through  which  they 
were  to  pass  was  thinly  populated  and  in  the  frontier  stage 
at  this  time. 

To  complicate  matters  still  further  a  drought  had  set  in 
during  May  and  lasted  until  October,  which  rendered  transpor- 
tation by  land  well  nigh  impossible,  as  it  was  estimated  that 
for  many  marches  in  succession  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  a  company  of  a  hundred  to  find  even  a  scanty  supply  of 
water.22  Up  to  June  a  scarcity  of  boats  also  had  made  it 
impossible  to  send  off  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  captives 
by  water.     By  this  time  the  Hiwassee  and  the  Tennessee  had 

18  Now  Calhoun,  Tenn. 

19  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

20  Guntersville,  Alabama. 

21  Payne  Mss.  9,  pp.  23-25. 

22  Cong.  Doc.  429,  No.  288,  p.  36. 


Compulsory  Removal  119 

almost  ceased  to  be  navigable  and  were  rapidly  falling.     It  was 
also  known  that  the  Arkansas  was  very  low. 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  on  July  23,  the  Cherokee  Council 
proposed  to  General  Scott  that  the  whole  business  of  emigrating 
be  taken  over  by  the  nation.  The  condition  of  the  people,  they 
reasoned,  was  such  that  all  dispute  as  to  the  time  of  emigration 
was  set  at  rest  and,  since  they  were  under  the  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  commanding  general,  all  inducements  to  prolong 
their  stay  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  East  were  taken  away,  and, 
however  strong  their  attachment  to  the  home  of  their  fathers 
might  be,  their  interests  and  wishes  now  were  to  depart  as 
early  as  might  be  consistent  with  safety.23  General  Scott 
granted  the  request  on  condition  that  the  Council  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  the  good  behavior  of  the  Indians  in  the  camp  and 
on  the  march  and  that  the  first  detachment  should  have  started 
by  the  first  of  September,  the  last  not  later  than  October  20. 
The  Council  was  to  take  entire  control  of  all  departments, 
provide  all  necessary  means  of  travel  and  subsistence  and  em- 
ploy all  assistance  in  transportation.  The  sum  of  sixty  dollars 
a  head  was  allowed  for  the  expense  of  moving  every  man, 
woman  and  child. 

The  situation  of  the  captives  improved  immediately.  The 
military  was  removed,  the  Georgia  Guards  forced  to  retire  and 
the  quack  doctors  dismissed.  The  people,  permitted  to  scatter 
out  freely  and  find  as  good  locations  for  camps  as  a  rather 
limited  area  permitted,  found  their  condition  much  more  en- 
durable than  it  had  been  under  martial  law.  They  naturally 
regarded  as  a  godsend  the  change  in  arrangement  for  removal, 
for  they  felt  that  their  interests  would  now  be  safeguarded  by 
their  chiefs  and  councilors  who  had  stood  by  them  through  the 
severest  temptations  and  refused  to  betray  them  for  fear  or 
favor. 

That  the  principal  chief  did  not  regard  this  confidence  of 
his  people  as  an  asset  to  be  traded  on  for  his  own  profit,  but  as 
a  reward  well  earned  by  conscientious  devotion  to  what  he 
considered  their  interests,  and  as  something  to  be  appreciated 
and  cherished  by  him,  is  evident  from  a  letter  written  to  a  friend 

23  Ibid,  p.  405;    Ibid  338,  No.  459,  p.  1. 


120  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

in  the  spring  of  1838 :  "If  my  people  did  not  know  that  where 
their  interest  has  been  involved  I  should  have  thought  it  dis- 
honorable to  regard  .my  own ;  if  they  did  not  also  know  that 
I  have  never  deceived  them  and  that  I  never  will  desert  their 
cause  under  any  circumstancs  of  temptation  or  calumny  to 
myself  or  difficulty  or  danger  to  them;  if  they  did  not  know 
all  this  I  should  not  so  long  have  possessed  the  confidence  with 
which  they  have  honored  me  and  which  I  prize  more  than 
all  wealth  or  praise."24  The  Federal  Government,  after  two 
years  in  which  it  had  refused  to  recognize  Mr.  Ross's  official 
position,  after  it  had  added  insult  to  insult  and  injury  to  injury, 
had,  at  last  and  after  all,  been  glad  to  turn  to  him  for  escape 
from  the  embarrassing  and  well  nigh  hopeless  situation  of  the 
summer  of  1838. 

The  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  forced 
by  the  treachery  of  their  leaders  and  the  iron  will  of  President 
Jackson  had  already  gone  west  and  were  now  adjusting  them- 
selves as  best  they  could  to  their  new  environment  in  the  wilder- 
ness inhabited  by  wild  animals  and  wilder  men.25  The  Cherokees 
with  their  more  advanced  civilization  and  more  patriotic  leaders 
had  been  able  to  resist  longer,  but  had  paid  a  heavier  price; 
the  disorganization  of  tribal  government  and  customs,  the 
wreck  of  homes  and  fortunes,  the  estrangement  of  friends  and 
kinsmen,  moral  degradation,  physical  suffering  and  loss  of  life 
unparalleled  at  that  time  in  the  history  of  any  tribe,  con- 
stitute part  of  the  penalty  for  Indian  patriotism  and  loyalty 
to  principle.  All  this  at  the  hands  of  a  government  established 
less  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  before  upon  the  principle 
of  justice  and  the  rights  of  man.  This  same  government  had 
shot  down  Cherokees  like  dogs,  quartered  them  like  malefactors 
and  even  put  a  price  upon  their  heads.  And  the  end  was  not 
yet. 

24  John  Ross  to  Pennsylvania  Legislature.     Cherokee  Mss.  Records. 
85  Irving's  Tour  of  the  Prairies,  pp.  8-12. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

The  Trail  of  Tears 

Left  to  themselves,  the  Cherokees  set  about  systematizing 
their  forces  and  bringing  order  out  of  chaos  in  a  logical  and 
businesslike  manner.  By  resolution  of  their  Council  they  made 
Chief  Ross  superintendent  agent  of  emigration  and  entrusted 
the  entire  management  of  removal  to  a  committee1  of  their 
own  people.  This  committee  organized  the  people  along  the  line 
of  family  ties,  and  of  kinship  where  possible,  into  thirteen  de- 
tachments comprised  of  as  nearly  equal  numbers  as  practicable. 
Over  each  detachment  were  placed  as  officers  two  such  men  as 
were  best  qualified  to  manage  that  particular  group  of  people. 
After  a  thorough  investigation  had  been  made  of  the  different 
routes  each  division  was  to  proceed  over  the  one  selected  by 
its  leaders.2 

Late  in  August  the  Council  and  people  assembling  for  a  final 
meeting  at  Aquohe  Camp,  about  two  miles  south  of  the  Hiwassee 
River,  passed  a  resolution  declaring  that,  never  having  con- 
sented to  the  sale  of  their  country  either  themselves  or  through 
their  representatives,  the  original  ownership  still  rested  in  the 
Cherokee  Nation  whose  title  to  the  lands  described  by  the 
boundaries  of  1819  was  still  unimpaired  and  absolute ;  that  the 
United  States  was  responsible  for  all  losses  and  damages  in 
enforcing  the  pretended  treaty;  as  they  had  never  relinquished 
their  national  sovereignty  therefore  the  moral  and  political 
relations  existing  among  the  citizens  towards  each  other  and  to- 
wards the  body  politic  could  not  be  changed  by  their  forcible 
expulsion;  finally  they  pronounced  their  laws  and  constitution 
in  full  force  to  remain  so  until  the  general  welfare  rendered  a 
modification  expedient.3  This  action  bound  anew  the  people, 
distracted  and  confused  by  the  harrowing  experiences  of  the 
last  few  months,  into  a  united  body  politic  which  went,  not  as 
individuals  but  as  a  nation,  into  exile. 

1  The  committee  was  composed  of  John  Ross,  Richard  Taylor,  Samuel 
Gunter,  Edward  Gunter,  James  Brown,  Elijah  Hicks  and  Sitewakee. 

2  Cong.  Doc.  338,  No.  459. 

3  Payne  Mss.  6,  p.  6. 


122  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

As  September  approached  every  exertion  was  made  by  both 
leaders  and  people  to  meet  their  obligations  to  the  United  States 
and  keep  their  promise  to  General  Wool  that  the  first  detach- 
ment should  be  under  way  September  1.  Notwithstanding  the 
continuance  of  the  drought  and  the  great  amount  of  sickness 
among  them  it  was  determined  that  a  company  should  be  ready 
to  start  on  the  last  day  of  August  from  the  camp  about  twelve 
miles  south  of  the  agency  in  Tennessee.4  It  was  the  plan  to 
get  a  part  of  the  company  in  motion  on  the  twenty-eighth,  the 
remainder  to  follow  the  next  day  and  come  up  while  they  were 
crossing  the  Tennessee  river  about  twenty-five  miles  distant. 
At  noon  everything  was  in  readiness  for  starting.  Wagons 
and  teams  were  stretched  in  a  line  along  the  road  through  the 
heavy  forest.  Groups  of  persons  were  gathered  around  the 
wagons  or  lingered  about  some  sick  friend  or  relative  who  was 
to  be  left  behind.  The  temporary  shacks  covered  with  rough 
boards  of  bark  which  had  been  their  shelter  during  the  past 
weeks  had  been  converted  into  bonfires,  and  were  crackling  and 
falling  into  glowing  heaps  of  embers  here  and  there  on  the  camp 
ground.  The  day  was  bright  and  beautiful;  not  a  cloud 
dimmed  the  blue  above.  But  a  gloomy  thought  fulness  shadowed 
the  faces  of  the  people.  "In  all  the  bustle  of  preparation  there 
was  a  silence  and  stillness  of  voice  which  betrayed  the  sadness 
of  heart."5  When  at  last  the  signal  was  given  to  start,  Going 
Snake,  a  white  haired  chief  of  four  score  years,  mounted  on 
his  faithful  pony,  took  the  place  at  the  head  of  the  column 
followed  by  a  cavalcade  of  younger  men.  Just  as  the  proces- 
sion was  on  the  point  of  being  set  in  motion  a  clap  of  thunder 
smote  the  stillness  and  a  dark  spiral  cloud  was  seen  rising 
above  the  western  horizon.  Peal  after  peal  rent  the  air  and 
reverberated  among  the  mountain  peaks  like  the  voice  of  some 
mighty  offended  deity,  while  overhead  the  sun  still  shone  in  an 
unclouded  sky.  Not  a  drop  of  rain  fell.  The  cloud  presently 
disappeared  and  the  thunder  died  away  in  the  distance,  but 
the  scene  was  not  one  to  be  easily  forgotten  by  the  superstitious 
Indians,  always  keenly  alive  to  natural  phenomena  to  which 

4  Calhoun. 

6  W.  Shorey  Coody  to  John  Howard  Payne.     Payne  Mss.  6. 


The  Trail  of  Tears  123 

they  often  attached  supernatural  significance.  Was  it  the 
voice  of  divine  indignation  against  the  wrongs  already  suffered 
or  the  warning  of  some  greater  calamity  awaiting  them  in  the 
future?6 

In  consequence  of  sickness  which  still  prevailed  in  the  camps 
and  the  drought  which  rendered  travel  distressing  beyond  de- 
scription General  Scott  called  a  halt  and  ordered  emigration 
suspended  for  several  weeks.7  It  was  not  until  some  weeks 
later  that  the  last  detachment  was  ready  to  set  out  for  the 
west.  This  party  under  the  personal  direction  of  the  principal 
chief,  himself,  left  Rattlesnake  Springs,  near  Charleston, 
Tennessee,  October  31.  Crossing  to  the  north  side  of  the 
Hiwassee  at  a  ferry  above  Gunstocken  Creek  they  continued 
down  along  the  river.  The  sick,  the  old  people  and  children 
rode  in  the  wagons8  which  carried  the  provisions,  bedding,  cook- 
ing utensils  and  such  other  household  goods  as  they  happened 
to  have.  The  rest  proceeded  on  foot  or  horseback.  Now  and 
then  might  be  seen  a  carriage,  a  survival  of  more  prosperous 
times.  One  of  these  carried  the  chief's  family  while  he,  mounted 
on  horseback,  rode  along  the  line  directing  operations  and  en- 
couraging the  people.  The  march  was  conducted  with  the  order 
of  an  army;  a  detachment  of  officers  heading  the  procession 
was  followed  by  the  wagons  while  the  horsemen  and  those  on 
foot  brought  up  the  rear,  or  when  the  road  permitted,  flanked 
the  procession.  Crossing  the  Tennessee  river  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Hiwassee9  the  procession  passed  through  Tennessee  by 
way  of  McMinnville  and  Nashville  and  thence  through  Ken- 
tucky to  Hopkinsville  where  a  halt  was  made  to  bury  White- 
path10  who  had  fallen  a  victim  to  illness  and  exposure.     There 

6  Mr.  Coody  was  one  of  the  officers  engaged  in  removing  this  detach- 
ment.   The  story  is  taken  almost  verbatim  from  his  account  of  the  incident. 
"Cong.  Doc.  411,  No.  1098,  pp.  48,  49. 

8  A  wagon  drawn  by  six  horses,  and  five  saddle  horses  were  provided 
for  every  twenty  persons.  The  young  people  and  the  able  bodied  were 
expected  to  walk.  Gen.  Scott  thought  it  would  be  good  for  their  health. 
There  were  six  hundred  and  forty-five  wagons  used  for  the  transportation 
of  the  thirteen  detachments. 

9  At  Tucker's  Ferry.     Mooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  132. 

10  He  was  in  charge  of  a  detachment. 


124  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

they  buried  him  by  the  roadside,  and  built  over  his  grave  a 
wooden  box  in  lieu  of  a  more  enduring  and  fitting  monument 
to  his  long  and  loyal  service  to  his  people.  At  the  head  and 
foot  they  placed  poles  bearing  black  streamers  as  a  signal  to 
those  coming  on  behind  that  they  might  not  pass  by  without 
noting  the  last  resting  place  of  their  venerable  chief.  Moving 
on,  they  crossed  the  Ohio,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland 
and  thence  passed  through  southern  Illinois  to  Cape  Girardeau. 

A  severe  winter  had  set  in  before  the  last  detachment  reached 
the  Mississippi.  The  river  was  choked  with  floating  ice,  cross- 
ing was  dangerous,  and  they  were  compelled  to  await  the  clear- 
ing of  the  current.  The  weather  was  bitterly  cold  and  hundreds 
of  sick  and  dying  filled  the  wagons  or  were  stretched  upon 
the  frozen  ground  with  only  a  sheet  or  blanket  stretched  above 
to  protect  them  from  the  cutting  blast.  The  hardships  through 
which  they  had  passed  during  the  last  few  months  had  reduced 
their  vitality,  while  homesickness  and  mental  depression  so 
preyed  upon  their  minds  as  to  render  them  easy  subjects  to 
disease  from  which  they  could  not  rally.  Hundreds  never  lived 
to  cross  the  Father  of  Waters,  and  their  bodies  were  left  to 
moulder  in  an  alien  soil  and  among  a  people  with  scant  regard 
for  the  sanctity  of  an  Indian  grave. 

When  finally  the  last  detachment  was  able  to  cross  the  river 
and  continue  the  journey  they  found  it  necessary  to  take  the 
northern  route  through  central  Missouri  by  way  of  Springfield 
and  Southwest  City,  because  those  who  had  preceded  them 
going  through  the  southern  part  of  the  state  to  Fort  Smith 
had  killed  off  the  game  upon  which  they  depended  largely  for 
subsistence.  It  was  March  when  they  reached  their  destination. 
More  than  four  thousand  had  perished  on  the  way,  among  them 
the  wife  of  Chief  Ross.  For  many  years  the  road  the  exiles 
travelled  on  this  fateful  journey  was  known  to  the  Indians 
by  a  word  in  their  language  meaning  the  "Trail  of  Tears". 

Thus  heartbroken,  cowed  and  scorned,  the  last  remnant  of 
this  once  mighty  and  fearless  tribe  had  passed  from  the  land 
they  loved,  "broad,  set  between  the  hills",  moving  with  bowed 
heads  on  toward  the  setting  sun.  The  history  of  Cherokee 
wrongs  had  been  so  long  before  the  public  that  it  failed,  for  lack 


The  Trail  of  Tears  125 

of  novelty,  to  arouse  fresh  sympathy.     With  a  few  exceptions 

the  world  read  the  story  unmoved.  The  Indian  was  after  all  only 

"A    savage!     Let   him   bleed    and   eat   his   heart   and    swiftly    go; 

Our  strength's  our  right.     The  tale  is  old!     E'en  so." 
"The   pantherfooted,   lithesome    Indian   brave 

We  thought   not  worth   our  while  to  try  to   save. 

But   welcomed    hither   hordes    of   king-crushed    souls, 

The  worn  out  serfs  who  cringed  to  lords  for  doles; 

We  gave  an  eagle  race  the  grave  as  bed; 

Our  fields  yet  bear  his  sign,  the  arrow  head."11 

And  yet  who  knows?  Some  great  poet  of  humanity  in  the 
future  may  find  in  the  tragic  story  of  the  expatriation  of  these 
children  of  the  forest  the  theme  for  an  epic  or  a  drama  of 
surpassing  grandeur  and  pathos  which  may  stir  all  mankind 
to  pity  for  their  sorrow  and  admiration  for  their  virtues.  If, 
peradventure,  it  comes  not  too  late,  like  tears  and  flowers  for 
the  dead,  who  in  life  would  have  been  made  happier  and  better 
for  the  sympathetic  word  we  had  not  sense  to  say,  and  the  help- 
ing hand  we  had  no  time  to  extend,  then  a  recreant  nation  may 
awake  to  the  enormity  of  its  injustice  and  inhumanity  towards 
a  valiant  aboriginal  people,  and  hasten  to  make  what  amends 
it  may  to  their  crushed  and  decadent  descendants  crowded  back 
into  remote  corners  of  a  country  where  once  they  were  kings 
and  emperors. 

11  Calvin  Dill  Wilson,  The  Arrow  Head,  Memphis  Commercial  Appeal, 
May,  1813. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A  Triple,  Tragedy 

The  great  body  of  the  emigrants,  arriving  in  the  west  in 
the  winter  of  1839,  went  into  camp  on  a  small  river  called  the 
Illinois1  to  await  the  opening  up  of  spring.  The  purpose  of 
the  encampment  was  twofold.  It  furnished  headquarters  and  a 
community  of  interests  for  the  newcomers  until  they  could  look 
about  for  suitable  locations  for  homes,  so  that  disbanding  and 
taking  up  the  burden  of  adjustment  and  the  business  of  making 
a  living  in  an  unfamiliar  economic  environment  would  be  at- 
tended with  fewer  hardships  than  if  they  had  been  thrown  at 
once  each  upon  his  own  resources.  It  also  kept  them  within 
reach  of  the  governing  body  until  their  political  status  could  be 
established  upon  a  permanent  basis  in  the  new  country. 

Barely  had  they  pitched  their  camp,  when  they  found  them- 
selves confronted  with  a  situation  scarcely  less  distressing  than 
the  one  from  which  they  had  just  escaped.  Coming  to  the  west 
as  a  nation  driven  into  exile,  bearing  with  them  their  Lares 
and  Penates,  they  found  themselves  not  only  strangers  in  a 
strange  land  amid  surroundings  and  conditions  new  and  un- 
familiar, but  among  a  people  with  a  political  organization  of 
their  own,  who  were  jealous  of  their  rights  and  prerogatives, 
and  who  naturally  looked  askance  upon  so  large  a  number,  even 
of  kinsmen,  arriving  in  their  midst  with  claims  to  all  the  rights 
of  a  sovereign  nation.  Here,  too,  they  came  face  to  face  with 
the  group  of  men  at  whose  door  they  laid  the  blame  of  their 
expatriation  and  the  suffering  still  fresh  in  the  mind  of  a  race 
which  has  always  boasted  of  never  forgetting  a  benefit  con- 
ferred nor  an  injury  inflicted. 

There  had  been  two  parties  in  the  eastern  nation.  In  the 
west  there  were  three,  the  Emigrants  or  Nationalists,  as  the 
followers  of  Mr.  Ross  called  themselves,  the  Treaty  party  and 
the  Old  Settlers.  The  Treaty  men,  who  for  reasons  of  self- 
preservation  and  polic}'  had  preceded  the  Emigrants,  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  situation  by  promptly  making  friends  with  the 

1  In  eastern  Oklahoma. 


A  Triple  Tragedy  127 

Old  Settlers,  or  Cherokees  West,  comprising  approximately 
a  third  of  the  tribe,  and  set  to  work  to  build  a  strong  party  of 
opposition  to  Mr.  Ross  and  his  friends.  The  conditions  in  the 
western  nation  at  this  time  were  most  favorable  to  the  success 
of  the  scheme. 

Of  the  early  westward  migrations  and  the  negotiations 
which  led,  in  1817,  to  the  assignment  of  land  in  Arkansas  to 
the  Cherokees  something  has  already  been  said.  The  tract 
upon  which  they  settled  belonged  to  the  Osages  whose  claim 
the  United  States  had  not  taken  the  trouble  to  satisfy.  So, 
for  more  than  a  decade,  the  history  of  the  western  band  is 
chiefly  a  story  of  Osage  raids  and  Cherokee  retaliations.  De- 
lay in  surveying  the  lines  and  taking  the  census  and  the  with- 
holding of  annuities  until  the  census  should  be  taken  in  the  hope 
that  the  whole  tribe  might  soon  be  induced  to  emigrate,  all 
worked  great  hardship  upon  the  Indians,  hindering  both  civic 
and  economic  development.2 

Meanwhile  there  was  a  growing  demand  on  the  part  of 
Arkansas  to  rid  her  soil  of  Indian  occupancy.  When,  there- 
fore, a  delegation  from  the  Western  Council  went  up  to  Wash- 
ington, in  the  winter  of  1828,  to  urge  the  settlement  of  their 
claims,  such  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  them  by  the 
War  Department  as  to  practically  force  consent  to  the  ex- 
change of  their  lands  in  Arkansas  for  a  tract  of  seven  millions 
of  acres  lying  farther  west,  with  a  perpetual  outlet  as  far  west 
as  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  might  extend.3  The 
treaty  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  tribe  and  the  delegation  on 
returning  home  barely  escaped  with  their  lives.4  The  Council 
pronounced  them  guilty  of  fraud  and  treason  and  declared  the 
treaty  null  and  void.  Before  they  could  do  anything  to  prevent 
it,  however,  the  treaty  had  been  ratified  by  Congress  and  they 
found  protest  of  no  avail.  Thus  "barely  ten  years  after  they 
had  cleared  their  fields  in  Arkansas  they  were  forced  to  aban- 

2  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians,  pp.  222,  242,  243 ;  Washburn's 
Reminiscences  of  the  Indians,  pp.  112-122;  McKenney  and  Hall,  Indian 
Tribes  of  North  America,  II,  pp.  125,  6,  Vol.  I,  pp.  251-260. 

8  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  311. 

4  The  laws  of  the  Western  Cherokees  also  made  it  a  capital  offense  to 
negotiate  any  sale  of  land  except  by  authority  of  the  Council.  Mooney, 
Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  141;    Starr,  The  Cherokees  West,  p.  110. 


128  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

don  their  cabins  and  plantations  and  move  once  more  into  the 
wilderness".5 

Progress  under  such  disheartening  conditions  was  slow  and 
difficult.  And  yet  considerable  advancement  was  made. 
Thomas  Nuttall,  who  made  a  journey  up  the  Arkansas  river 
in  1819,  described  their  farms  as  "well  fenced  and  stocked  with 
cattle",  while  the  houses  were  decently  furnished,  a  few  of  them 
evenly  handsomely  and  conveniently.6  A  year  later  a  mission 
school  was  built  at  the  Cherokee  agency  near  the  mouth  of 
Illinois  Creek,  by  the  Reverend  Cephas  Washburn  who  did  good 
service  for  religion  and  education  until  the  treaty  of  Wash- 
ington made  removal  necessary.  The  missionaries  followed  the 
Cherokees  in  their  exodus  from  Arkansas  and  rebuilt  their 
mission  of  Dwight  in  the  new  country  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Illinois  river.7  Here  also  was  located  the  new  capital  named 
in  honor  of  the  venerable  chief  Takattoka. 

The  civil  affairs  of  the  Cherokees  West  had  been  continually 
confused  and  disturbed,  not  only  by  the  indifferent  policy  of 
the  Federal  Government,  but  by  the  almost  constant  arrival  of 
emigrants  from  the  old  nation.  At  the  head  of  the  tribal 
government  from  1813  to  1818  was  Takattoka,  an  aged  chief 
of  the  conservative  type.  Upon  the  arrival  of  a  considerable 
delegation  under  the  treaty  of  1817  a  contest  for  leadership 
ensued  between  him  and  Tollunteeskee,  the  chief  recognized  not 
only  by  the  emigrants  but  the  United  States.  The  older  chief 
was  forced  to  yield  to  the  newcomers  and  take  second  place 
even  after  his  rival  died  leaving  the  chieftainship  to  John  Jolly, 
a  descendant  of  Tollunteeskee.8 

In  a  reorganization  of  the  government  a  few  years  later9 
a  plan  was  adopted  similar  to  the  one  in  use  in  the  east  at  this 
time.  They  had  no  constitution  in  the  truest  sense  of  the 
word  and  but  few  written  laws,  although  the  government  on  the 

BMooney,  Myths  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  141. 

"Nuttall,  Journals  of  Travels  in  the  Arkansas  Territory,  p.  129.  (Phil. 
1821). 

7  Not  to  be  confused  with  Illinois  Creek  in  Arkansas. 

8  Cong.  Doc.  443,  No.  235. 
» 1824. 


A  Trifle  Tragedy  129 

whole  was  very  well  suited  to  the  condition  of  the  people  and 
the  times.  It  seems,  however,  that  it  was  administered  in  a 
rather  vague  manner,  and  the  laws  were  more  indifferently  en- 
forced than  in  the  older  community. 

In  the  fall  of  1838  John  Jolly,  principal  chief,  died.  As 
his  first  assistant  chief,  John  Brown,  had  previously  resigned, 
John  Looney,  second  assistant  chief,  whose  term  of  office  ex- 
pired in  October  of  the  next  year,  was  left  the  nominal  head 
of  the  government.10  The  general  conditions  of  the  country 
naturally  led  to  doubt  and  uncertainty  on  the  part  of  the 
people,  particularly  since  they  were  not  sure  on  what  footing 
they  really  stood  with  the  United  States  in  regard  to  the  ad- 
justment of  territorial  rights  with  their  eastern  tribesmen,  who 
were  arriving  in  such  multitudes  as  to  outnumber  them  two 
to  one. 

While  the  mass  of  the  people  showed  no  hostility  towards 
the  newcomers,  but  some  anxiety  that  adjustment  might  take 
place  without  injustice  to  them,  the  leaders,  backed  up  by  the 
Treaty  men  and  remembering  how  a  large  party  of  emigrants 
twenty  years  before  had  proved  usurpers,  determined  to  hold 
on  to  the  reins  of  government  at  all  hazards.  Encouraged  by 
the  Ridge  faction  John  Brown,  repenting  of  his  resignation  of  a 
few  months  before,  called  an  informal  meeting  of  the  Council 
to  which  eight  members  responded.  These  eight  members  ap- 
pointed Brown  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Chief  Jolly  and 
made  John  Looney  first  assistant,  and  John  Rodgers  second 
assistant  chief. 

The  newly  appointed  principal  chief,  responding  to  a  re- 
quest from  the  National  Council  at  the  Illinois  camp  ground, 
called  a  meeting  "for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  a  union 
and  consolidation  of  the  whole  nation".11  Each  party  now  be- 
gan laying  its  wires  for  controlling  the  convention.  For  sheer 
strength  of  ability  and  numbers  the  advantage  was  clearly  to 
the  emigrants  who,  in  all  probability,  would  manage  the  meet- 
ing so  as  to  give  themselves  the  upper  hand  in  the  proposed 
adjustment.     But,  as  the  Old  Settlers  and  Treaty  men  were 

10  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  pp.  21-55. 
u  Ibid,  p.  4. 


130  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

not  lacking  in  resourcefulness,  the  outcome  held  enough  uncer- 
tainty to  arouse  the  keenest  interest  among  the  people  long 
accustomed  to  taking  an  active  part  in  settling  their  questions 
of  national  importance. 

The  convention  which  met  at  Takattoka,12  the  Old  Settler 
capital,  was  attended  by  the  chiefs  and  legislative  councillors  of 
both  Eastern  and  Western  Cherokees  and  about  six  thousand 
members  of  the  tribe  besides.  After  a  formal  reception  given 
by  the  western  to  the  eastern  chiefs  the  councils  convened 
separately,  the  Old  Settlers  meeting  behind  closed  doors.  Com- 
munication between  the  two  bodies  was  conducted  in  writing, 
the  people  meantime  pleasantly  spending  the  time  renewing 
old  acquaintancs  and  tracing  relationships  as  they  enjoy  doing 
down  to  the  present  time.  The  negotiations  began  by  the  Old 
Settlers  requesting  of  the  Nationalists  a  formal  statement  of 
their  wishes  in  regard  to  the  proposed  union.  They  replied 
that  they  wished  such  a  "joint  arrangement  as  would  thence- 
forth make  the  Cherokees  a  united  people".13  The  Western 
Council  coldly  demanded  a  less  ambiguous  statement.  The 
answer  was  a  proposition  that  the  adjustments  of  their  rela- 
tions be  left  to  a  joint  committee  of  equal  members  from  each 
side  and  the  principal  and  assistant  chiefs  of  both  nations. 

The  Treaty  men,  who  were  on  the  ground  and  much  in 
evidence  with  the  Old  Settlers,  particularly  with  Chief  Brown, 
were  evidently  using  all  their  influence  to  circumvent  the  Na- 
tionalists. The  next  communication  betrayed  their  influence 
too  strongly  to  leave  room  for  doubt.  The  Old  Settler  Council, 
now  stepping  out  boldly,  declared  that  they  considered  the  two 
nations  already  virtually  united.  The  Emigrants  had  accepted 
the  welcome  of  the  Western  chiefs,  had  taken  their  hands  in 
friendship,  an  act  which  they  regarded  as  acceptance  of  them 
as  rulers.  The  government  and  laws  of  the  Cherokees  from 
the  east  could  not  be  admitted  in  the  west;  nor  could  two 
governments  be  tolerated  in  the  same  region;  therefore  the 
Eastern   Emigrants   must   take   the   organization   they   found 

12  Or  Tahlontuskee. 

18  Payne  Mss.  5,  pp.  7-15. 


A  Triple  Tragedy  131 

already  in  operation  when  they  arrived.14  The  Emigrants  re- 
turned a  communication  vehemently  denying  that  the  two  people 
were  already  united  and  that  the  chiefs  of  the  minority  had 
any  right,  from  prior  residence  in  a  place  set  apart  for  emi- 
grant Cherokees  generally,  to  claim  allegiance  to  themselves 
and  their  laws  from  a  body  of  newcomers  so  greatly  outnum- 
bering them.  They  reminded  them  that  in  removing  from  the 
east  it  had  been  proclaimed  and  understood  by  Cherokees  both 
sides  of  the  Mississippi  that  they  had  not  relinquished  a  single 
law  but  had  emigrated  in  their  national  character  with  all  the 
attributes  which  had  belonged  to  them  from  time  immemorial 
as  a  distinct  community.  But  for  all  that,  notwithstanding 
they  constituted  so  large  a  majority,  they  had  not  come  to 
make  any  but  just  and  equitable  demands.15 

On  receiving  this  communication,  the  Old  Settlers  Council 
without  further  formalities  adjourned  and  notified  the  waiting 
people  that  the  meeting  was  broken  up.16  The  people,  both 
Emigrants  and  Old  Settlers,  promptly  resolved  themselves 
into  a  national  convention  in  which  they  declared  that  since 
their  representatives  had  failed  to  accomplish  a  plan  of  union 
a  National  Assembly  should  meet  July  1,  at  the  Illinois  camp 
ground  to  "recast  the  government  upon  a  system  applicable  to 
their  present  conditions  providing  equally  for  the  peace  and 
happiness  of  the  whole  people".17  They  adjourned  after  send- 
ing an  express  to  notify  General  Arbuckle  of  the  failure  to 
effect  a  union  and  the  determination  to  hold  another  conven- 
tion in  July,  and  to  request  him  that  no  disbursements  of 
moneys  due  the  Eastern  Cherokees  nor  any  other  business  of 
a  public  character  affecting  their  rights  be  made  or  transacted 
by  the  government  agent  with  any  other  Cherokee  authority 
until  a  reunion  of  the  people  be  effected.18 

Meanwhile,  in  the  midst  of  the  discussions,  the  men  of  the 
Treaty  party  had  abruptly  left  the  council  ground  just  be- 

14  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  3. 

15  Ibid,  p.  4;    Payne  Mss.  5. 

16  June  14.    Cong.  Doc.  443,  No.  235,  p.  15. 

17  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  6. 

18  Ibid,  p.  54.  The  Old  Settlers  and  Treaty  men  were  then  trying  to 
get  possession  of  all  the  public  moneys. 


132  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

fore  the  Old  Settlers  Council  had  delivered  its  ultimatum,  but 
not  before  their  presence  had  aggravated  the  old  grievances  up 
to  the  danger  point.  Feeling  against  them  ran  high  and  threats 
were  heard  that  it  was  not  yet  too  late  for  them  to  pay  the 
penalty  of  the  law  they  had  broken  by  signing  the  Schermer- 
horn  treaty.  Heretofore  the  opposition  of  Mr.  Ross  had  been 
so  decided  that  all  attempts  to  carry  it  into  execution  had  been 
held  in  abeyance.  Now  they  were  decided  to  proceed  without 
his  knowledge.  Consequently  about  three  hundred  full-bloods, 
every  one  of  whom  had  suffered  some  harrowing  experience 
from  forcible  removal,  banded  themselves  together,  pledged  to 
stand  by  each  other  to  the  last  extremity.  Of  the  three  hun- 
dred, forty  were  chosen  to  perform  the  work  of  execution. 
They  were  completely  disguised  and  acted  with  such  prompt- 
ness and  unity  of  purpose  that  in  two  days  after  the  breaking 
up  of  the  meeting  their  plan  had  been  carried  out  to  the  letter.19 
About  daybreak  of  June  22  a  band  of  armed  men  entered 
the  house  of  John  Ridge,  dragged  him  into  the  yard  and 
brutally  murdered  him  before  the  eyes  of  his  family.  Major 
Ridge,  attended  by  a  servant,  had  started  the  day  before  to 
visit  a  friend  at  Van  Buren,  Arkansas.  He  was  travelling 
down  the  Line  Road20  in  the  direction  of  Evansville.  A  runner, 
sent  with  all  possible  speed  to  inform  him  of  his  son's  death, 
returned  with  the  information  that  Major  Ridge  himself  had 
been  shot  to  death  from  ambush  on  the  evening  of  the  fateful 
twenty-second.  The  third  victim  was  Elias  Boudinot  whose 
assassination  was  most  savage  and  treacherous.  While  helping 
to  build  a  house  near  his  home  at  Park  Hill  he  was  called  out 
by  three  men  who  said  they  wanted  medicine.  He  started  to 
accompany  them  to  the  house  of  Dr.  Worcester,  the  missionary, 
about  three  hundred  yards  distant.  When  they  had  gone  nearly 
half  way  two  of  the  men  seized  and  held  him  while  the  third 
stabbed  him.  The  three  of  them  then  fell  upon  the  wounded 
and  helpless  man  with  knives  and  tomahawks  and  cut  him  to 

u  Niles'  Register  56,  p.  44. 

20  The  road  which  followed  the  boundary  line  between  Arkansas  and 
the  Cherokee  Nation. 


A  Triple  Tragedy  133 

pieces  in  a  most  barbarous  fashion.21  The  deed  unques- 
tionably was  one  of  revolting  brutality.  Mr.  Boudinot  was  a 
young  man,  as  was  John  Ridge,  in  the  prime  of  life;  he  was 
intelligent,  well  educated,  an  earnest  Christian  and  devoted  to 
the  welfare  of  his  people.  His  untimely  taking  off  was  the  more 
deplorable  from  the  fact  that  along  with  other  important  lit- 
erary efforts  he  was  engaged  in  missionary  work  and  in  assist- 
ing Dr.  Worcester  in  interpreting  and  translating  the  Bible 
and  printing  it  in  Cherokee.  It  is  not  discounting  the  impor- 
tance of  the  tragedy  of  the  Ridges,  therefore,  to  say  that  his 
loss  at  this  time  meant  more  to  his  people  than  the  loss  of  any 
other  man  of  the  tribe  could  have  meant,  with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  Chief  Ross  himself.  The  missionary,  upon  reaching 
the  side  of  his  murdered  friend  exclaimed,  "they  have  cut  off 
my  right  hand",  and  at  the  open  grave  fearlessly  declared  him 
to  be  as  true  a  patriot  at  heart  as  ever  lived,  the  signing  of 
the  treaty  being  the  only  act  of  his  life  which  anyone  could 
condemn.22 

The  blow,  long  deferred,  had  fallen  with  a  heavy,  a  brutal 
hand.  While  it  was  a  shock  to  the  whole  nation  and  an  act 
greatly  to  be  deplored  from  all  points  of  view  it  could  not 
possibly  have  been  a  complete  surprise  to  the  friends  of  the 
victims.  For,  as  has  been  suggested  before,  they  were  but 
paying  the  penalty  of  a  law  which  the  Ridges,  both  father  and 
son,  had  been  instrumental  in  placing  on  the  statute  books  ten 
years  before  and  which  Boudinot  had  been  the  first  to  put  into 
print. 

The  fact  that  the  murderers  were  of  the  National  party  and 
that  Boudinot  was  killed  within  two  miles  of  Ross's  home  lent 
color  to  the  story  that  he  had  instigated  the  deed.  News  of 
the  affair,  reaching  the  remotest  corner  of  the  nation  in  an 
incredibly  short  time,  aroused  the  greatest  excitement.  The 
Treaty  men,  regarding  their  murdered  friends  as  martyrs  to 
their  cause,  vowed  that  the  price  of  their  lives  should  be  paid 

21  Agent  Stokes  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  June  24,  1839.  Report  of 
Indian  Commissioner,  1839,  p.  335. 

22  Couch,  Pages  from  Cherokee  History,  p.  18.  (Pamphlet,  St.  Louis, 
1884). 


134  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

by  the  principal  chief  of  the  Emigrants  around  whom  centered 
the  storm  of  bitterness  and  hostility  which  raged  for  weeks  and 
months  in  the  new  country,  and  who  was  made  the  object  of 
threats  and  plots  by  the  friends  of  the  murdered  men.23 

On  Sunday,  June  23,  a  rumor  got  abroad  that  a  Ridge  man 
was  collecting  a  party  to  carry  out  this  threat.  At  an  hour's 
notice  a  band  of  a  hundred  armed  men  was  on  the  way  at  full 
speed  to  guard  Chief  Ross,  while  another  party  went  to  the 
protection  of  Edward  Gunter,  a  member  of  the  National  Coun- 
cil included  in  the  threat.  Party  feeling  was  at  fever  heat  and 
an  act  of  indiscretion  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Ross  would  doubtless 
have  led  to  a  civil  war,  ending  in  the  extinction  of  the  leaders  of 
both  parties  and  the  destruction  of  tribal  government.  But 
the  calmness  and  self-possession  which  had  served  him  so  well 
in  former  emergencies  did  not  desert  him  in  this  crisis.  Enjoin- 
ing his  friends  and  supporters,  as  they  valued  his  favor  and 
friendship,  to  refrain  from  any  acts  of  aggression  and  violence, 
he  sent  an  express  to  the  military  commander  at  Fort  Gibson 
informing  him  of  what  had  taken  place  and  suggesting  that, 
as  it  would  probably  be  made  a  pretext  by  the  Treaty  men  for 
further  disturbances,  an  unbiased  investigation  of  the  matter 
should  be  undertaken.  Replying  to  this  communication  Gen- 
eral Arbuckle  sent  a  detachment  of  cavalry  to  conduct  the 
chief  safely  to  the  protection  of  the  fort  where  the  Old  Settler 
chiefs  would  meet  him  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  plans  to 
put  a  stop  to  further  acts  of  outrage  and  violence. 

Meantime  Treaty  men  and  some  Old  Settler  chiefs,  among 
whom  was  John  Brown,  had  taken  refuge  at  Fort  Gibson  and 
sought  protection  from  the  commandant  in  whom  they  found 
a  ready  sympathy,  as  they  did  with  the  great  majority  of 
government  officials  whose  obligations  to  President  Jackson 
had  prejudiced  them  against  Mr.  Ross.  They  were  in  favor 
of  instant  war  and  consulted  some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  wild  tribes, 
who  happened  to  be  present  at  the  fort,  to  know  what  assistance 
they  could  furnish  them  in  "putting  down  the   strangers."24 

23  Report  of  Indian  Commissioner,  1839,  p.  335;  Drake's  Indians,  pp. 
459,  460. 

34  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  55. 


A  Triple  Tragedy  135 

Assured  of  the  support  of  three  or  four  thousand  well  armed 
allies  from  the  neighboring  nations  they  made  their  plans  to 
rush  suddenly  upon  the  Illinois  camp  ground,  disperse  and 
pursue  the  men,  not  one  in  ten  of  whom  was  armed,  and  massa- 
cre every  one  of  them,  sparing  only  women  and  children.  Before 
trying  to  carry  the  plan  into  execution,  however,  they  revealed 
it  to  General  Arbuckle,  who  advised  them  to  postpone  their 
vengeance  and  appeal  to  Washington  for  a  settlement  of  the 
difficulty,  and  upon  sober  reflections  they  decided  to  act  upon 
his  suggestion. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  fort  when  the  escort 
arrived  to  conduct  Mr.  Ross  to  safety.  His  friends  had  also 
been  warned  of  a  plan  to  make  the  chief  a  prisoner  of  the 
United  States  as  soon  as  he  reached  Fort  Gibson,  hold  him  to 
account  for  the  murders  and  remove  him  permanently  from  the 
chieftainship.  Aware  of  these  designs  upon  his  liberty  and 
his  life,  Mr.  Ross  courteously  declined  the  services  of  the 
military  guard,  notifying  General  Arbuckle  that  he  would 
remain  at  home  and  depend  upon  his  own  resources  for  protec- 
tion.25 During  the  last  ten  days  of  June  therefore  when  polit- 
ical adjustment  should  have  been  going  on  smoothly  and  the 
people  given  every  opportunity  to  settle  down  to  work,  plant- 
ing crops  and  building  houses,  a  civil  upheaval  was  in  progress 
such  as  the  tribe  had  never  experienced,  and  the  country  was 
torn  from  center  to  circumference  by  the  bitterest  factional 
strife  it  had  ever  known. 

The  Federal  Government  promptly  accused  John  Ross  of 
being  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble.  Not  for  a  moment  does  it 
seem  to  have  recognized  its  own  responsibility  for  the  state  of 
affairs  in  the  Cherokee  Nation,  where  its  secret  agents  by  dark 
and  devious  methods  had  started  a  train  of  events  which 
threatened  to  blot  a  nation  out  of  existence  and  which  actually 
caused  its  people  to  retrograde  in  civilization  for  three  decades. 
Even  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  generations  there  are  still  traces 
of  the  old  factional  prejudice  which  three-quarters  of  a  century 
have  been  unable  to  entirely  obliterate. 

25  Ibid,  p.  45 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Political  Readjustment 

A  judicious  and  non-partisan  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
commandant  at  Fort  Gibson  and  the  Cherokee  agent  at  Bayou 
Menard  would,  without  doubt,  have  gone  a  long  way  towards 
quieting  the  tumult  aroused  by  the  tragedy  of  June  22. 
Mr.  Stokes  threw  the  whole  weight  of  his  influence  on  the  side 
of  peace  and  conciliation,  assuring  all  factions  of  his  earnest 
desire  to  see  the  nation  "flourish  in  peace,  happiness  and  pros- 
perity" and  of  his  willingness  to  do  all  he  could  to  further  this 
object  "without  partiality  to  anyone."1  It  was  a  different 
story  with  General  Arbuckle,  who  by  profession,  was  a  man  of 
war  and  not  of  peace.  His  daily  habits  of  life2  tended  possibly 
to  increase  his  prowess  as  a  warrior,  undoubtedly  to  augment 
his  ardor  as  a  partisan,  but  totally  unfitted  him  for  the  position 
of  judge  and  arbiter  in  a  situation  requiring  cool,  sober  and 
unbiased  judgment. 

He  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  an  admirer  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son, and  a  soldier  of  no  mean  ability  who  had  been  sent  to  the 
southwestern  frontier  fifteen  years  before.  Fort  Gibson,  his 
headquarters,  beautifully  situated  on  some  heights  overlooking 
the  Grand  River  valley  in  the  Cherokee  Nation,  was  for  many 
years  the  most  important  center  of  military,  commercial  and 
social  life  in  that  region  of  the  southwest.  Here  came  the 
Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Creeks  and  Cherokees  when  occasion 
made  it  necessary  or  desirable,  and  it  was  convenient  also  for 
the  wild  tribes  of  the  plains  who  doubtless  found  a  certain 
fascination  in  the  military  garrison  with  its  uniformed  soldiers, 
its  drills  and  martial  music.  The  Western  Cherokees,  par- 
ticularly, found  it  a  convenient  place  to  buy  supplies  and  to 
sell  such  articles  of  commerce  as  they  had  to  offer,  which 
were  shipped  by  boat  down  the  river  to  Little  Rock  or  to  New 
Orleans. 

1  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  16. 

aHe  not  only  indulged  in  stronger  drink  than  grape  juice  but  kept 
a  supply  on  tap  with  which  to  secure  certain  desired  ends.  Cong.  Doc. 
No.  368,  No.  222,  p.  20. 


Political  Readjustment  137 

Old  Settler  chiefs  and  Treaty  men  had  established  friendly 
relationships  with  the  commandant  of  the  garrison  before  the 
Emigrants  arrived.  Moreover,  his  opinions  of  John  Ross  and 
his  followers  had  been  highly  colored  by  rumors  from  Wash- 
ington during  the  last  few  years  and  he  was  thus  naturally 
prepared  to  take  a  prejudiced  view  of  the  newcomers  as  soon 
as  they  arrived.  Not  content  to  confine  his  activities  to  his 
legitimate  field  of  action,  he  proceeded  to  use  all  his  good  offices 
at  Washington  and  his  authority  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  to 
back  up  the  Treaty  men  and  the  Old  Settlers  with  whom  they 
had  made  common  cause. 

Alarmed  at  the  turn  affairs  had  taken  in  the  early  summer 
of  1839,  the  Treaty  men  sought  safety  under  the  protection  of 
General  Arbuckle  and  took  up  temporary  quarters  in  the 
shadow  of  the  fort,  where,  as  has  already  been  said,  they  were 
joined  by  the  Old  Settler  chiefs  and  Council  at  the  invitation 
of  the  military  commander,  who  promptly  sent  an  express  to 
Washington  to  apprise  the  administration  of  what  had  taken 
place.  The  messenger  returned  in  twenty-four  days  with 
orders  to  defend  the  Treaty  men,  support  the  Old  Settlers, 
take  care  of  such  Cherokees  as  might  manifest  a  hostile  disposi- 
tion, and  demand  of  John  Ross  the  murderers  of  the  Ridges 
and  Boudinot.3  Acting  on  these  instructions  he  informed  the 
Western  chiefs  that  they  would  be  recognized  as  the  only  legiti- 
mate authority  in  the  Cherokee  Nation4  and  advised  Chief 
Brown  to  hold  on  to  his  laws,  by  no  means  to  give  them  up.  As 
he  would  be  sustained  by  the  military,  the  people  would  even- 
tually be  compelled  to  submit.5 

Meanwhile,  the  Old  Settler  executive  committee6  had  ad- 
dressed a  communication  to  John  Ross  declaring  that  the 
manner  in  which  the  convention  had  been  called  to  meet  at  the 
Illinois  camp  grounds,  without  any  notice  to  them,  was  irregular, 
protesting  against  the  legal  force  of  any  acts  which  it  might 

8  Payne  Mss.  8,  p.  9;   Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  9. 

4  Cong.  Doc.  443,  No.  235,  p.  16. 

5  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  86. 

•Composed  of  John  Brown,  John  Looney,  John  Rodgers  and  John 
Smith. 


138  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

pass  and  proposing,  at  the  suggestion  of  General  Arbuckle,  that 
he  send  a  committee  of  his  party  to  meet  an  equal  number 
of  their  own  at  Fort  Gibson  on  July  25,  for  the  purpose  of 
reaching  an  amicable  settlement  of  the  trouble.7  Ross  replied 
by  inviting  them  to  attend  the  convention  just  beginning  its 
session  at  the  Illinois  camp  ground.  They  declined  the  invita- 
tion saying  that  they  had  called  a  council  of  their  own  people 
and  such  others  as  chose  to  attend  to  meet  at  Takattoka  on 
July  22  where  the  question  of  union  would  be  considered  by 
them.8  Then  they  proceeded  to  draw  up  a  memorial  demanding 
of  the  United  States  protection  in  the  country  and  government 
guaranteed  them  by  treaty,9  and  asking  for  the  moneys  due 
the  tribe. 

The  convention  met  at  the  appointed  time  and  place  with 
a  large  number  of  Emigrants  in  attendance  and  a  considerable 
sprinkling  of  the  Old  Settlers,10  numbering  some  of  their  most 
enlightened  and  conservative  men,  among  wThom  was  the  ven- 
erable Sequoyah  or  George  Guess.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
Convention  was  to  appoint  a  committee  of  Old  Settlers  to  com- 
municate with  the  chiefs  at  Fort  Gibson  urging  their  coopera- 
tion in  adopting  measures  for  preventing  the  further  effusion 
of  blood,  effect  a  union  "on  just  and  reasonable  conditions" 
and  lay  the  foundation  of  a  code  of  laws  for  the  protection  of 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  all.  "Come  up  without  delay," 
wrote  this  committee,11  "that  wTe  may  talk  matters  over  like 
friends  and  brothers.  These  people  are  here  in  great  multi- 
tudes and  they  are  perfectly  friendly  towards  us.  They  have 
said  over  and  over  again  that  they  would  be  glad  to  see  you, 
and  we  have  all  confidence  that  they  will  receive  you  with 
friendship.  There  is  no  drinking  here  to  disturb  the  peace."1 
The  appeal  met  with  no  response  from  the  Old  Settlers. 

The  convention  next  turned  its  attention  to  the  tumultuous 
condition  of  the  country,  passing  such  laws  as  were  thought 

7  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  59. 

8  Ibid,  p.  67. 

9  Ibid,  p.  66. 

10  "Upwards  of  two  thousand"  in  all. 
"July  2. 

12  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  66. 


Political  Readjustment  139 

best  for  restoring  confidence  and  quiet.  A  resolution  of  July  7 
declared  that  the  Ridges  and  Boudinot  had,  by  their  conduct, 
laid  themselves  liable  to  the  penalty  of  the  ancient  law  against 
selling  territory  belonging  to  the  tribe,  and  extending  to  the 
survivors  a  full  amnesty  for  past  offenses  but  upon  stringent 
and  humiliating  conditions.  Three  days  later  it  passed  a  decree 
securing  the  murderers  from  any  prosecution  or  punishment  and 
restoring  them  fully  to  the  confidence  of  the  community.13  The 
committee  on  act  of  union,  with  Sequoyah  as  a  member, 
made  its  report  on  July  12.  It  was  adopted  almost  unani- 
mously, and  bears  the  signatures  of  John  Ross,  George  Lowrey 
and  thirteen  others  representing  the  Eastern  Cherokees,  and 
George  Guess  with  fifteen  Old  Settlers  for  the  Western  Nation.14 
The  proportion  of  Old  Settlers  in  attendance  was  small 
at  first,  but  as  the  days  went  by  the  orderliness  of  the  proceed- 
ings reassured  them,  and  they  turned  out  in  increasing  numbers. 
Among  those  who  came  to  look  on  and  observe  the  workings  of 
the  convention  was  John  Looney,  who  went  away  well  pleased 
and  reported  to  General  Arbuckle  his  good  impression  of  the 
proceedings.  There  was  a  growing  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
majority  of  the  people  of  all  factions  for  a  compromise  and 
some  hope  was  entertained  that  it  might  be  brought  about  when 
the  Old  Settler  chiefs  met  at  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River 
the  last  of  July. 

When  the  time  arrived,  however,  the  Treaty  men,  furious 
over  the  humiliating  conditions  of  the  amnesty  decree,  were 
prepared  to  yield  not  an  inch.  The  committee,  on  arrival  at 
the  council  ground,  met  with  such  open  hostility,  that  fearing 
their  lives  were  in  danger,  they  retired  without  discharging  the 
business  for  which  they  had  been  sent. 

Convinced  finally  that  no  reconciliation  could  be  effected 
with  Brown  and  Rodgers,  John  Looney,  first  assistant  chief, 
and  Aaron  Price,  a  very  prominent  Old  Settler,  withdrew  from 
the  Council,  called  a  convention  of  their  western  people  and 
deposed  the  two  chiefs,  Brown  and  Rodgers,  on  the  ground  that 

13  Niles'  Register  56;   Report  of  Indian  Commissioner,  1839,  p.  387. 

14  John  Looney's  name,  which  appears  on  the  document,  was  not  attached 
until  August  23. 


140      John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

they  no  longer  represented  the  will  of  the  people,  but  had  acted 
in  direct  opposition  to  their  wishes  in  appealing  to  the  United 
States  for  interference  in  their  internal  affairs.  They  then 
elected  John  Looney  principal  chief,  giving  him  authority  to 
represent  the  Western  Nation  in  signing  the  articles  of  union. 
This  he  did  on  August  23.15 

After  providing  for  a  constitutional  convention  to  be  held 
early  in  September,  the  meeting  at  the  Illinois  camp  ground 
adjourned,  having  accomplished  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
called.  This  second  convention  met  at  Tahlequah  and  from 
September  6  to  10  drew  up  a  bill  of  rights  and  a  constitution 
modeled  closely  after  the  one  the  Emigrants  had  brought  with 
them  from  the  east.  Having  been  submitted  to  the  people  for 
ratification  it  was  proclaimed  the  law  of  the  land,  and,  accord- 
ing to  its  provisions,  officers  for  the  new  government  were 
elected.  These  officers  were  chosen  from  among  both  Emigrants 
and  Old  Settlers.  John  Ross  was  elected  principal,  and  Joseph 
Vann,lfi  an  Old  Settler,  second  chief.  In  the  executive  council 
and  the  two  legislative  branches  the  Western  Cherokees  were 
slightly  in  the  majority,  both  the  speaker  of  the  Council17  and 
president  of  the  Committee18  being  Old  Settlers.19  When  Octo- 
ber arrived  they  were  prepared  to  hold  their  National  Council. 

The  Brown  and  Rodgers  faction  of  the  Old  Settlers,  re- 
fusing to  recognize  their  summary  deposition  from  office,  called 
another  council  in  October  and  elected  John  Rodgers  as  prin- 
cipal chief  and  John  Smith,  a  signer  of  the  Schermerhorn 
treaty,  first  assistant  chief;  Dutch,  a  full-blood  who  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  for  many  deeds  cf  daring  among  the  western 
tribe,  with  whom  his  name  was  a  word  of  terror,  was  made 
second  assistant  chief.20  Entrenched  in  the  belief  that  the 
United  States  would  protect  them  in  their  rights  and  would 
acknowledge  theirs  as  the  only  legitimate  government  among 

15  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  68. 

16  Vann  had,  at  one  time,  been  a  chief  of  the  Old  Settlers. 
"  William  Shorey  Coody. 

18  Young  Wolf.     Cong.  Doc.  366,  No.  188,  p.  41. 

19  Cong.  Doc.  368,  No.  222,  p.  2. 

20  Cong.  Doc.  359,  No.  347,  p.  19.  John  Brown  had  gone  to  Mexico  to 
see  about  securing  a  new  country  for  himself  and  his  friends. 


Political  Readjustment  141 

the  Cherokees  they  held  on  stubbornly  to  their  contention  for 
leadership,  denounced  the  proceedings  of  Mr.  Ross  and  his 
party,  which  they  declared  null  and  void,  protested  against  the 
transaction  of  business  with  their  delegation  on  behalf  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation,  and  demanded  that  the  tribal  funds  be  re- 
fused them.21 

General  Arbuckle,  while  disavowing  all  intention  of  med- 
dling with  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Cherokees,  but  imperfectly 
concealed  his  eagerness  to  do  so.22  The  readiness  with  which 
he  gave  ear  to  the  wildest  rumors  started  by  partisans  and  his 
manner  of  making  reports  to  the  Department  of  War  so  as  not 
only  to  indicate  the  measures  to  be  supported  but  also  the  men 
to  be  upheld,  betrayed  him.  Secretary  Poinsett,  who  proved 
himself  hardly  less  partisan,  gave  full  credit  to  these  reports, 
qualified  as  they  were  with  "perhaps,"  and  "I  believe  that  I  am 
justified  in  making  the  assertion,"  or  "as  I  judge,"23  and  dis- 
tinctly informed  the  newly  organized  government  that  only 
such  information  was  acceptable  as  was  being  received  from 
the  military,  and  not  from  the  agency  where  Governor  Stokes 
showed  a  much  more  judicial  attitude. 

An  occurrence  at  the  Fort  soon  after  the  act  of  union  is 
illustrative  of  his  attitude  at  this  time.  Charles  Coody  and 
Looney  Price,  two  Old  Settlers  who  had  signed  the  Act  of 
Union,  called  upon  him  and  found  him  much  excited  about  the 
conciliatory  course  of  so  many  of  the  Western  Cherokees.  He 
expressed  great  surprise  that  Charles  Coody  had  taken  such  an 
active  part.  Coody  answered  that  if  every  man  would  make 
the  proper  effort  at  this  crisis  a  reconciliation  would  soon  be 
effected  and  the  whole  nation  would  soon  be  happy  and  at  peace. 
Whereupon  the  General  bitterly  exclaimed,  "You  too — you 
shouldered  a  rifle  and  went  with  all  the  rest  to  guard  John  Ross ; 
but  for  that,  John  Ross  would  have  been  killed  !"24 

21  The  Government  was  holding  up  payments  of  all  moneys  due  the 
Cherokees  until  a  settlement  of  their  difficulties  could  be  reached.  Cong. 
Doc.  359,  No.  347,  p.  16. 

22  Report  of  Indian  Commissioner,  1840,  p.  46;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation 
of  Indians,  pp.  294,  295. 

28  Cong.  Doc.  359,  No.  347. 

24  Cong.  Doc.  368,  No.  222,  p.  3. 


142  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

General  Arbuckle  grossly  misrepresented  the  articles  of 
union  in  order  to  convince  the  War  Department  that  sharp 
practices  had  been  used  in  ratifying  them  and  that  they  con- 
tained sentiments  which  made  impossible  any  peaceable  settle- 
ment of  the  factional  trouble. 

In  his  eagerness  to  put  Mr.  Ross  in  the  worst  possible  light 
before  the  administration  he  frequently  showed,  in  his  reports, 
not  only  vindictiveness  but  positive  lack  of  candor,  while  his 
effort  to  prejudice  the  Western  Cherokees  against  Ross  is  ill 
concealed.  Moreover,  the  obligation  of  the  Federal  Government 
to  the  Treaty  men  who  had  been  its  tools  in  making  the  Scher- 
merhorn  treaty,  was  such  as  to  make  it  difficult  for  its  officers 
to  take  a  judicial  and  tactful  attitude  towards  the  whole  situ- 
ation. To  General  Arbuckle  it  was  not  only  difficult  but  im- 
possible. In  a  high-handed  and  dictatorial  manner  he  demanded 
that  the  murderers  of  the  Ridges  and  Boudinot  be  turned  over 
to  him  and  assurance  given  by  Mr.  Ross  that  he  would  be 
responsible  for  the  conduct  of  his  followers  in  the  future, 
threatening  to  send  the  militia  through  the  country  unless  this 
demand  were  complied  with.  Mr.  Ross  protested  politely,  yet 
vigorously,  against  such  a  course,  saying  that  he  refused  to  be' 
held  responsible  in  any  way  for  the  murders  which  he  so  much 
deplored.  As  the  murderers  were  unknown  to  him  he  could  not 
apprehend  them,  nor  would  he  send  them  to  Fort  Gibson  if  he 
could.  It  was  in  his  opinion  a  local  affair  and  one  which  the 
Cherokees  themselves  were  competent  to  control  and  adjust  in 
the  manner  most  conducive  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the 
nation  without  interference  from  the  United  States.25 

This  angered  General  Arbuckle  so  much  that  he  accused 
Ross  himself  of  being  the  murderer  or  the  instigator  of  the  deed, 
since  he  was  admittedly  the  protector  of  the  assassins,  and  he 
was  on  the  point  of  arresting  and  placing  the  chief  in  confine- 
ment when  he  found  that  Mr.  Ross  was  ready  to  start  to 
Washington  with  his  delegation.26    As  his  arrest  and  detention 

25  Evans  Jones  to  John  Howard  Payne.    Payne  Mss.  5;    Cong.  Doc.  365 
No.  129,  p.  109;   Cong.  Doc.  366,  No.  188,  p.  16. 
38  Ibid,  p.  25. 


Political  Readjustment  143 

in  the  east  would  be  likely  to  prove  more  embarrassing  to  the 
chief  and  less  so  to  the  commandant,  Mr.  Ross  was  allowed  to 
depart  unmolested,  but  not  before  General  Arbuckle  had  dis- 
patched an  express  to  the  Capital  artfully  suggesting  the 
course  which  should  be  pursued  toward  him. 

Thus  when  the  delegation  from  the  newly  organized  gov- 
ernment presented  itself  and  requested  an  interview  with  Sec- 
retary Poinsett  he  bluntly  refused  to  receive  them  with  John 
Ross,  whom  he  violently  denounced  as  the  instigator  of  the 
murders  of  the  Ridges.  The  delegation  refused  an  interview 
without  the  chief  and  demanded  evidence  for  the  accusation 
against  him;  to  which  Mr.  Poinsett  replied  that  evidence 
would  be  produced  in  the  progress  of  the  investigation  which 
had  been  instituted.27  The  evidence  was  never  produced,  how- 
ever, and  the  Secretary,  when  cornered,  had  to  admit  that  no 
investigation  had  been  instituted  as  he  considered  none  neces- 
sary as  long  as  Ross  did  not  give  up  the  murderers. 

The  winter  and  early  spring  were  spent  in  fruitless  efforts 
to  secure  an  adjustment  at  Washington,  and  equally  fruitless 
efforts  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  to  bring  the  two  factions 
together. 

During  all  this  time  the  tribal  funds  were  being  held  up, 
and  the  people,  unable  to  secure  supplies,  were  suffering  for 
want  of  the  necessaries  of  life  as  well  as  from  political  dissen- 
sions.28 A  settlement  of  the  controversy  in  some  manner  became 
imperative,  but  how  it  was  to  be  accomplished  was  not  at  all 
clear.  When  in  November  the  Secretary  of  War  announced 
to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  that  the  rule  of  the 
majority  was  a  principle  as  applicable  to  the  affairs  of  the 
Cherokees  as  any  other  community,  and  that  the  minority 
must  eventually  yield  to  the  great  mass,  it  seemed  that  light 
might  be  dawning  on  the  situation.29 

Acting  on  this  ruling  and  by  the  advice  and  assistance  of 
Agent  Stokes,  a  meeting  was  held  at  Tahlequah,  January  15, 
for  the  purpose  of  deciding  by  vote  which  government  they 

27  Cong.  Doc.  359,  No.  347,  p.  21. 

28  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  38. 

29  Ibid,  p.  5. 


144  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

would  choose  for  their  nation,  "in  order  that  peace  and  friend- 
ship may  be  restored  throughout  the  country  and  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  satisfied  as  to  the  will  and  choice  of 
the  Cherokees  in  relation  to  this  matter."30  A  special  invita- 
tion was  sent  the  Old  Settler  chiefs  to  join  them;  but  when  the 
assembly  met  at  the  appointed  time  they  failed  to  appear.  The 
first  act  of  the  assembly  was  to  repeal  the  decree  of  outlawry 
against  the  Treaty  men  which  had  given  so  much  offense  at 
Washington  and  cause  for  complaint  in  the  Cherokee  Nation. 
The  people  present  expressed  themselves  unanimously31  in  favor 
of  the  new  government  and  signed  the  articles  of  union,  a  cer- 
tified copy  of  which  bears  one  hundred  and  fifteen  names  of 
Western  Cherokees.32  Captain  Page,  who  attended  the  meeting 
as  General  Arbuckle's  representative,  reported  that  upon 
counting  the  total  number  of  votes  cast  he  found  them  to  be 
between  seventeen  and  eighteen  hundred.33 

There  was  clearly  a  majority  in  favor  of  union  and  the 
constitution.  Agent  Stokes  recognized  it,  and  General  Arm- 
strong34 wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  that,  in  view  of  the  late 
ruling  of  the  War  Department,  since  the  convention  had  decided 
in  favor  of  the  union  and  the  decree  of  outlawry  had  been  re- 
pealed placing  all  upon  an  equal  footing,  he  had  determined  to 
recognize  the  late  government  in  such  transactions  as  he  and 
his  agents  might  have  with  them,  adding  that  he  considered  the 
peace  of  the  country  the  great  object  to  be  obtained:  it  was  a 
matter  of  no  importance  to  the  Government  who  ruled,  provided 
the  obligations  of  the  United  States  be  recognized.  He  recom- 
mended that,  since  now  there  was  a  fair  prospect  of  harmony 
being  restored,  the  money  due  them  be  paid.35 

80  Cong.  Doc.  365,  No.  129,  p.  17.  The  Treaty  party  and  Old  Settlers 
refused  to  attend  because  they  regarded  the  invitation  to  meet  as  having 
no  other  object  than  revealing  the  weakness  of  their  numbers.     Ibid,  p.  34. 

Gen.  Arbuckle  refused  to  attend  because  the  Old  Settlers  and  Treaty 
men  would  not  go.    Ibid,  p.  42. 

31  With  the  exception  of  one  man. 

82  The  Cherokees  were  in  advance  of  their  times  on  the  question  of  equal 
suffrage. 

33  Cong.  Doc.  359,  No.  347,  p.  45. 

84  Acting  Superintendent  of  the  western  territory. 

35  Cong.  Doc.  359,  No.  347,  pp.  51-2. 


Political  Readjustment  145 

The  victory  of  the  unionists  was  not  so  acceptable  to 
General  Arbuckle,  who  acknowledged36  with  reluctance  that  it 
now  became  his  duty  in  accordance  with  the  ruling  of  the 
Executive  and  the  decision  of  the  convention  to  notify  the  Old 
Settlers  that  their  government  was  at  an  end.  He  had  no 
doubt,  he  wrote,  that  the  decision  would  be  keenly  felt  by  the 
Old  Settlers,  who  in  their  kindness  had  invited  the  late  Emi- 
grants to  share  their  country  with  them;  in  less  than  a  year 
after  their  arrival  the  newcomers  had  wrested  the  authority  out 
of  the  hands  of  their  benefactors.  Unless  something  were  done 
to  satisfy  the  Old  Settlers  he  feared  outrages  and  bloodshed 
might  be  expected.  They  would  not  peaceably  surrender  their 
rights  and  had  expressed  the  intention  of  claiming  from  the 
United  States  undisputed  possession  of  the  seven  millions  of 
acres  of  land  to  which  they  were  entitled.  He  suggested  that  if 
he  were  permitted  to  exercise  his  own  judgment  he  would  at 
once  dissolve  the  two  governments  and  form  a  third.37  The 
letter  was  followed  up  by  a  memorial  from  the  western  chiefs 
protesting  against  the  decision  of  the  late  convention,  and 
together  they  had  the  desired  result. 

In  spite  of  a  letter  from  Agent  Stokes  stating  that  there 
was  nothing  in  the  new  constitution  to  encourage  murder  and, 
as  a  result  of  conversations  with  five  or  six  Old  Settlers,  he 
judged  that  the  murders  were  not  sanctioned  by  the  chiefs 
and  principal  men,38  the  Secretary  of  War  ordered  General 
Arbuckle  to  bring  about  a  new  constitution  securing  the  rights 
of  the  Indians,  the  abolition  of  such  savage  and  cruel  edicts  as 
that  under  which  the  Ridges  and  Boudinot  were  slain,  con- 
formity to  the  United  States  constitution  and  the  exclusion 
from  office  of  John  Ross  and  William  Shorey  Coody.39 

Ross  and  Coody  immediately  protested  vigorously  on  the 
ground  that  the  United  States  had  no  control  over  their  in- 
ternal affairs,  but  the  War  Department  was  obdurate.  General 
Arbuckle  had  at  last  succeeded  in  getting  the  desired  authority 

86  Jan.  22,  1840.    Ibid,  p.  50. 

87  Cong.  Doc.  359,  No.  347,  p.  51. 
38  Ibid,  p.  51. 

38  Cong.  Doc.  366,  No.  188,  pp.  54-6. 


146  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

into  his  hands  and  his  love  of  power  was  keenly  gratified. 
Acting  on  instructions,  he  declared  both  governments  dissolved 
and  called  a  conference  to  be  held  at  his  headquarters,  July  25, 
to  which  each  party  was  requested  to  send  deputations  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  men.  Both  parties  opposed  this  plan  of 
settling  the  difficulty,  but  the  General  was  in  the  saddle  and 
prepared  to  ride  roughshod  over  all  opposition. 

Then  the  unexpected  happened,  taking  him  completely  off 
his  guard  and  forcing  him  to  either  go  down  in  ignominious 
defeat,  or  to  make  terms  with  the  enemy.  A  few  days  before  the 
time  for  the  conference  arrived,  a  call  council  of  the  Nation- 
alist government  met  and  quietly  appointed  its  full  quota  of 
delegates.  The  delegation  composed  of  some  of  the  ablest  men 
from  the  Emigrants  and  Old  Settlers  went  over  to  Fort  Gibson 
thoroughly  organized,  with  a  well  defined  purpose  in  mind  and 
a  copy  of  their  Acts  of  Union  and  Constitution  in  hand.  They 
were  also  prepared  to  prove  that  they  represented  a  majority 
of  the  Cherokee  people,  both  Emigrants  and  Old  Settlers. 

The  Old  Settler  Council  had  made  no  such  preparation  to 
defend  its  interests.  The  principal  and  assistant  chiefs  with 
a  number  of  their  leading  men  casually  appeared  on  the  ground 
but  no  authorized  deputation  had  been  named  to  represent 
them.  At  the  last  moment  Chief  Rodgers  was  compelled  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  situation  to  appoint  some  of  his  friends  to 
act  for  his  party.  From  the  start,  therefore,  the  advantage 
was  clearly  with  the  Nationalists  who  had  not  only  a  well 
defined  policy  to  guide  them  but  the  support  of  the  people 
to  back  them.  General  Arbuckle,  appreciating  the  significance 
of  the  situation  felt  compelled  to  advise  the  Old  Settlers  to  give 
in.  They  at  first  refused  to  do  so,  but  after  considerable  delay, 
during  which  the  Nationalists  made  it  plain  that  they  could 
act  upon  no  other  basis  than  the  complete  acceptance  of  their 
Acts  of  Union  and  Constitution,  the  Old  Settlers,  on  assurance 
from  their  friend,  the  General,  that  they  could  accept  them 
without  acknowledging  their  legal  force  until  they  had  been 
concurred  in  by  their  people  as  a  nation,  came  to  terms  and 
signed  an  agreement.  Acceptance  of  the  Acts  of  Union  and 
the  Constitution  of  the  Nationalists  was  a  practical  recognition 
of  the  government  organized  under  them. 


Political  Readjustment  147 

The  statement  of  the  conditions  is  very  ambiguous  and  they 
were  doubtless  differently  understood  at  the  time,  but  the 
whole  tribe,  worn  out  with  the  year  of  contention  and  dis- 
organization, was  glad  to  agree  to  any  compromise  that  prom- 
ised a  degree  of  peace  and  harmony.  Even  Chief  Rodgers  of 
the  Old  Settlers,  while  personally  opposed  to  the  union,  gave  a 
toast,  "What  has  been  done  this  day,  may  it  never  be  undone. ',i0 
The  agreement  was  signed  by  eleven  members  of  the  Eastern 
Nation  and  twelve  from  the  Western.  Although  there  was 
never  any  subsequent  action  on  the  part  of  the  Western  Chero- 
kees  concerning  the  compact  the  Federal  Government  consid- 
ered it  binding,  and  for  all  practical  purposes  recognized  the 
government  from  which  neither  John  Ross  nor  William  Shorey 
Coody  had  been  excluded. 

Mr.  Ross  had  thus  emerged  triumphant  from  the  tumult 
and  heat  of  the  conflict,  as  cool  and  level  headed,  apparently, 
as  if  it  were  a  game  of  Indian  ball  he  had  been  playing.  Never 
for  a  moment  had  he  wavered  in  his  determination  to  prevent 
the  overthrow  of  his  own  party  and  make  it  the  dominant 
political  force  in  the  new  country.  The  motive  which  prompted 
him  was  doubtless,  to  some  extent,  self-aggrandizement,  but 
that  it  was  dominated  by  true  patriotism  his  followers  never 
doubted  for  an  instant.  Whatever  sharp  political  practices 
the  chief  was  tempted  to  make  use  of,  either  now  or  in  later 
years,  he  had  learned  in  the  hard  school  of  experience,  and  from 
tutors  provided  by  no  less  an  institution  than  the  United 
States  Government. 

40  Cong.  Doc.  457,  No.  140,  p.  67. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Political  Readjustment,  Concluded 

The  National  Council  selected  for  the  location  of  its  capital 
the  site  of  an  old  Ute  Indian  village,  abandoned  more  than  half 
a  century  before,  situated  in  a  narrow  valley  overlooked  by 
oak-clad  ridges.  The  place  commended  itself  to  them  partly 
on  account  of  its  sheltered  position  and  salubrious  climate,  and 
partly,  no  doubt,  from  the  fact  that  the  lay  of  the  land  and  the 
character  of  the  country  round  about  bear  some  slight  resem- 
blance to  their  ancient  nation.  On  the  north  a  rocky  promi- 
nence smooths  out  into  an  open  prairie  which  after  a  few  miles 
merges  in  a  heavy  forest.  To  the  southward  the  broken  ridges, 
interspersed  with  forests  and  fertile  valleys,  at  length  give 
place  to  rugged  hills  beyond  which  rise  more  rugged  hills  until 
they  lose  themselves  in  the  dimness  of  the  purple  distance.  A 
little  creek,  bearing  the  accumulated  waters  of  many  hillside 
streams,  flows  over  a  stony  bed  down  through  the  town  and, 
together  with  a  number  of  nearby  springs,  furnishes  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  water  for  man  and  beast.  In  many  ways  it  was 
an  ideal  spot  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  chosen.  They 
named  it,  not  New  Echota,  but  Tahlequah,  for  the  ancient  vil- 
lage of  Talikwa  or  Tellico  which  held  less  tragic  associations 
for  the  tribe  than  their  former  capital. 

Here  they  laid  out  the  council  ground  in  the  form  of  a 
square,  of  the  dimensions  of  a  city  block  and  enclosed  it  with 
a  rude  fence,  within  which  a  temporary  shed  sheltered  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Council.  A  log  cabin  served  as  executive 
office.  During  the  next  year  the  shed  was  replaced  by  log 
houses  built  on  two  corners  of  the  capitol  square,  one  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  legislature,  the  other  for  the  judiciary. 
Several  years  later  the  log  houses,  in  turn,  gave  place  to  a  two- 
story  brick  council  house  built  in  the  center  of  the  square. 

The  first  Council  met  between  September  nineteenth  and 
October  twelfth  and  in  quick  succession  passed  laws  for  punish- 
ing criminal  and  other  offenses,  regulating  settlement  on  the 
public  domain,  the  adjustment  of  certain  cases  by  arbitration, 


Political  Readjustment  149 

prohibiting  the  vending  of  ardent  spirits,  granting  permission 
to  locate  new  mission  stations,  establishing  a  school  system  and 
a  judiciary.  In  addition  to  these  there  was  various  other  legis- 
lation necessary  for  putting  the  machinery  of  government  into 
motion.1  Just  as  in  the  old  nation,  the  country  was  divided 
into  eight  districts,2  for  the  purpose  of  apportioning  represen- 
tation in  the  Council  and  the  Committee,  and  for  greater  ease 
in  administering  the  school  system  and  the  local  affairs  of  the 
different  sections. 

By  the  compromise  arranged  at  Fort  Gibson  in  the  summer 
of  1840  it  was  hoped  and  confidently  believed  that  peace  and 
harmony  had  been  permanently  restored.  According  to  the 
agreement  one-third  of  the  officers  elected  under  the  new  con- 
stitution promptly  resigned,  and  Chief  Rodgers,  representing 
the  Old  Settler  government,  appointed  Western  Cherokees  to 
fill  the  unexpired  term  with  the  distinct  understanding  that 
thereafter  each  one,  regardless  of  party  affiliation,  was  to  take 
his  own  chance  at  election.  When  Council  convened  in  October, 
1840,  therefore,  the  new  officers  appeared  and  took  their  places 
after  having  pledged  themselves  to  support  the  constitution. 

The  delegation  from  the  National  party  sent  to  Wash- 
ington the  previous  winter  returned  home  in  October,  after 
having  been  absent  for  almost  a  year.  The  news  they  brought 
as  revealed  in  the  principal  chief's  message3  was  far  from  en- 
couraging to  a  community  embarrassed  to  the  point  of  individ- 
ual starvation  and  national  bankruptcy.  The  unsettled  condi- 
tion of  the  country  and  the  conflicting  claims  of  rival  parties 
had  given  the  administration  some  excuse  for  evasion  and  delay, 
not  only  in  turning  over  the  annuities,  but  in  carrying  out  the 
terms  of  the  treaty.  The  real  reason  for  the  latter,  however,  is 
not  to  be  sought  in  the  wilds  of  the  southwest  but  in  the  treaty 
itself  whose  Delphic  vagueness  began  to  grow  embarrassing 
enough  to  the  Senate  and  the  Executive  when  time  came  to  "set- 
tle up"  the  financial  end  of  the  bargain.    Those  who  had  agreed 

^Cong.  Doc.  411,  No.  1098. 

3  A  ninth  was  added  later  and  given  the  name  Coowee  Scoowee,  John 
Ross's  Indian  name. 

*Cong.  Doc.  411,  No.  1098,  p.  45. 


150  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

with  Mr.  Lumpkin  that  it  was  the  best  treaty  ever  entered  into 
with  an  Indian  tribe  were  now  forced  to  take  refuge  in  meaning- 
less generalities  when  their  opinion  was  sought  as  to  the  real 
meaning  of  the  treaty.  Even  the  Senate  which  had  approved  the 
document  could  shed  no  light  upon  it,  nor  was  the  President  or 
the  Secretary  of  War  able  to  reconcile  its  contradicting  state- 
ments as  to  whether  the  expense  of  removal  should  be  sub- 
tracted from  the  five  million  to  be  paid  for  the  old  nation  or 
whether  it  should  be  borne  by  the  United  States.  By  article 
eight  the  Federal  Government  made  itself  plainly  liable  for  the 
expense  of  removal  and  by  article  fifteen  this  same  item,  to- 
gether with  the  charge  for  subsistence,  is  enumerated  with  other 
expenses  to  be  taken  out  of  the  amount  paid  the  Cherokees  for 
their  eastern  lands.  Supplemented  articles  to  the  treaty,  which 
had  been  found  necessary  to  give  character  to  the  original 
document  before  it  could  even  pass  the  Senate,  cleared  up  some 
points,  but  on  others  rendered  the  confusion  worse  confounding. 
To  add  to  the  complication  the  Old  Settlers  now  claimed 
that  if  they  were  to  be  forced  to  share  their  country  with  the 
newcomers  they  should  share  with  them  in  the  per  capita  pay- 
ment which  was  to  be  made  of  all  the  moneys  remaining  from 
the  sale  of  the  eastern  lands  after  expenses  were  paid.  Also, 
the  Treaty  men  claimed  that,  since  they  had  been  allowed  only 
twenty  dollars  per  capita  for  removal  while  the  Emigrants  had 
been  promised  three  times  as  much,  they  should  be  reimbursed 
for  the  difference.  These  conflicting  claims  added  to  the  com- 
plication and  the  Van  Buren  administration,  now  nearing  its 
end,  took  no  definite  step  towards  reducing  it  to  order  and 
harmony.  The  delegations  at  Washington  in  the  winter  of 
1840-1841  appealed  in  vain  for  a  final  interpretation  of  the 
treaty  and  a  complete  execution  of  all  its  terms.  The  Indians 
and  their  troubles  were  too  remote,  cut  no  figure  in  the  present 
political  situation  and  the  future  was  not  yet  to  be  reckoned 
with.  With  the  Cherokees  safe  beyond  the  Mississippi,  the 
President  and  Congress  had  been  glad  to  free  their  minds  of 
them.  It  seemed  impossible  to  attract  any  intelligent  attention 
at  this  time  and  affairs  drifted  on  into  the  next  administration, 
while  the  Cherokee  government  was  bankrupt  and  many  of  the 
people  were  in  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 


Political  Readjustment  151 

With  the  accession  of  the  Whigs,  who  had  loudly  denounced 
Jackson's  force  policy,  high  hopes  were  entertained  of  a  change 
of  policy  towards  the  Cherokees.  But  weeks  passed  into  months 
before  they  succeeded  in  gaining  the  ear  of  the  executive. 
Finally  in  September  President  Tyler  addressed  to  the  delega- 
tion a  letter  in  which  he  deplored  the  injustice  they  had  suf- 
fered at  the  hands  of  the  Federal  Government  and  promised 
that,  as  far  as  lay  in  his  power  to  prevent  it,  no  Cherokee  should 
ever  again  petition  in  vain  for  justice.  He  had  carefully  read 
the  various  treaties,  he  said,  wherein  he  found  promises  of 
friendship  on  one  side  and  of  protection  and  guardian  care  on 
the  other.  He  had  read  Washington's  address  to  the  delegation 
of  the  nation  as  it  was  inscribed  in  the  silver  bound  book, 
presented  to  them  at  Philadelphia,  wherein  he  found  a  record 
of  the  mutual  obligations  existing  between  his  government  and 
that  of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  He  also  read  the  talk  made  by 
Jefferson  inscribed  upon  a  parchment  and  surrounded  by  an 
endless  chain  of  gold.  "Let  us  keep  that  chain  bright  and  un- 
broken," he  enjoined  them;  "In  its  preservation  consists  our 
mutual  happiness."  A  new  treaty  was  then  promised,  giving 
them  indemnity  for  all  their  wrongs,  establishing  upon  a  per- 
manent basis  the  political  relations  between  them  and  the 
United  States,  and  guaranteeing  their  lands  in  fee  simple.  In 
closing,  President  Tyler  prophesied  that  a  new  sun  would  soon 
dawn  upon  the  Cherokee  people  in  whose  brightness  their  per- 
manent happiness  and  true  glory  might  be  read  by  the  whole 
world.  "And  I  shall  rejoice  to  have  been  the  President  under 
whose  auspices  these  great  and  happy  results  shall  have  been 
produced."4 

Mr.  Ross  and  his  delegation  joyfully  carried  this  letter 
home  to  read  to  their  Council  in  October,  1841,  where  they 
found  some  excitement  existing  over  a  rumor  that  a  "head 
right"  payment  of  the  money  would  be  made  under  the  New 
Echota  Treaty.  Many  were  in  favor  of  accepting  what  the 
government  was  willing  to  pay  them  without  further  delay  that 
their  distressed  condition  might  be  relieved.5     Chief  Ross  coun- 

*Cong.  Doc.  411,  No.  1098,  pp.  71,  72. 
6  Ibid. 


152  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

seled  delay  in  the  belief  that  under  a  new  treaty  they  would 
receive  millions,  whereas  under  the  New  Echota  Treaty  they 
would  receive  only  a  few  thousand,  which,  paid  per  capita, 
would  amount  to  a  comparatively  small  sum.6  After  a  fierce 
debate  the  chief's  policy  prevailed  and  a  new  treaty  was  confi- 
dently looked  forward  to  as  a  panacea  for  all  their  political  ills. 

With  a  view  to  carrying  out  this  promise,  the  President  in- 
structed the  Cherokee  agent  through  the  Commissioner  of  In- 
dian Affairs  to  procure  all  the  information  possible  upon  the 
subject  of  the  injustice  done  the  members  of  the  tribe  to  the 
end  that  amends  might  be  made  them  as  far  as  possible.  The 
Secretary  of  War,  acting  upon  this  report,  went  so  far  as  to 
prepare  the  draft  of  a  new  treaty,  but  it  was  so  far  from 
satisfactory  to  all  parties  that  the  effort  at  adjustment  came 
to  naught. 

Meantime  the  possibilities  suggested  by  Mr.  Tyler's  letter 
had  been  working  sad  havoc  among  the  newly  reconciled  parties 
at  home.  Should  investigation  prove  that  large  sums  of  money 
to  be  paid  per  capita,  were  rightfully  due  the  tribe,  would  mem- 
bers of  all  parties  share  and  share  alike  or  would  the  Emigrants 
claim,  and  by  their  superior  numbers  and  political  strength 
secure  the  lion's  share?  These  were  questions  which  began  to 
agitate  the  minds  of  the  opposing  factions.  Lawyers,  think- 
ing they  saw  rich  fees  in  contesting  claims,  were  not  slow  to 
lend  a  hand  at  setting  in  motion  a  train  of  influences  which 
soon  produced  a  repetition  of  all  the  old  party  wrangling  and 
bitterness.  Old  Settlers  and  Treaty  men  put  forward  separate 
claims  conflicting  with  those  of  the  Cherokee  national  govern- 
ment. The  Western  Cherokees,  with  whom  the  Ridge  men 
usually  made  common  cause,  attempted  to  establish  their  gov- 
ernment at  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River.  The  Cherokee  na- 
tional authorities  tried  to  suppress  the  movement  on  the  ground 
of  treason,  and  the  opposition,  angry  and  resentful,  appealed 
to  Washington  to  have  a  certain  section  of  the  nation  set  apart 
for  them,  complaining  that  they  could  not  live  in  peace  and 
harmony  with  the  Ross  government.  The  administration  at 
loss  to  know  what  to  do  took  refuge,  as  usual,  in  inaction. 

6  Ibid. 


Political  Readjustment  153 

Meanwhile  Chief  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Council  were  not 
idle.  After  having  failed  in  the  attempt  to  restore  harmony 
and  unity  at  home  they  dispatched  a  delegation  to  Washington 
in  the  winter  of  1843-44  to  head  off  the  secession  movement  by 
arranging  a  new  treaty.  Armed  once  more  with  President 
Tyler's  letter  they  appeared  at  the  National  Capitol  and  pre- 
sented to  the  Secretary  of  War  a  statement  of  the  salient  points 
on  which  they  desired  to  negotiate  a  new  agreement.  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  other  two  factions  were  also  present7  and  their 
hostility  to  the  Ross  party  caused  the  President  to  decide  that 
the  cause  of  turbulence  in  the  tribe  must  be  obtained  and  re- 
sponsibility for  it  fixed  before  a  new  treaty  could  be  considered. 
Charges  had  been  brought  against  the  dominant  party  claim- 
ing that  grievous  oppressions  were  practiced  by  them,  insomuch 
that  their  opponents  were  not  allowed  to  enjoy  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  that  the  act  of  union  was 
never  authorized  or  sanctioned  by  the  legal  representatives  of 
the  people.  The  Nationalists  contended  that  the  Western 
Cherokees  and  the  Treaty  party  enjoyed  the  same  degree  of 
security  and  the  same  fullness  of  rights  enjoyed  by  any  other 
part  of  the  nation,  and  counter  charged  that  the  alleged  dis- 
satisfaction was  confined  to  a  few  restless  spirits  whose  motto 
was  "rule  or  ruin".8 

Unable  to  reconcile  these  contradictions,  President  Tyler 
appointed  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the  disturbances  and 
the  grievances  of  the  weaker  parties.  This  commission,  com- 
posed of  General  R.  Jones,  Lieutenant  Colonel  R.  B.  Mason 
and  Mr.  P.  M.  Butler,9  the  Cherokee  agent,  arriving  at  Fort 
Gibson  in  the  early  winter,  issued  a  proclamation  stating  their 
business  with  the  Cherokees  and  inviting  them  to  come  in  and 
register  any  complaints  which  they  might  have  against  the 
party  in  power.  Conferences  held  at  different  places  were  well 
attended,  over  nine  hundred  being  present  at  one  meeting,  and 
a  thorough  investigation  was  made  lasting  over  several  weeks. 

7  Cong.  Doc.  476,  No.  331,  p.  18;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians, 
pp.  300,  301.  / 

8  Ibid,  p.  301. 

9  Cong.  Doc.  476,  No.  331,  p.  20. 


154  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Based  on  this  investigation,  the  commission  made  its  report 
which  stated  that,  after  an  impartial  examination  of  the  facts 
in  the  case,  the  committee  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  the 
authority  for  the  proceedings  on  either  side  at  Fort  Gibson 
in  July,  1840,  was  adequate,  since  the  representatives  of  the 
Western  Cherokees  who  had  attended  and  taken  part  in  the  de- 
liberations were  regarded  by  both  Eastern  and  Western  Chero- 
kees as  authorized  agents;  that  the  stipulations  in  regard  to 
office  were  at  once  carried  out,  and  many  of  those  now  denying 
the  validity  of  the  compact  had  taken  office  under  it,  and  conse- 
quently had  taken  the  required  oath ;  and  while  the  proceedings 
were  never  referred  back  to  the  people  there  was  probably  no 
intention  that  they  ever  should  have  been — at  any  rate,  the 
reason  that  they  were  not,  seemed  to  have  been  not  the  fault 
of  the  Ross  party.  Chief  Rodgers  and  others  had  received 
money  from  the  new  government  for  claims  under  the  old.  The 
complaining  party  had  acquiesced  in  the  new  government  and,  in 
the  succeeding  election,  party  lines  seem  to  have  been  oblit- 
erated and  the  Western  Cherokees  had  received  the  majority 
of  the  offices.  As  to  the  moot  question  of  per  capita  payments, 
the  committee  held  the  opinion  that  all  parties  stood  on  an 
equal  footing.  It  further  reported  that  the  complaint  of  op- 
pression against  the  Ross  party  since  the  act  of  union,  was 
unfounded  and  that  no  life  had  been  endangered  by  them  ex- 
cept in  the  administration  of  wholesome  laws;  but  there  was 
great  danger  to  life  from  frequent  and  stealthy  incursions  of 
a  desperate  gang  of  bandit  half-breeds,' notorious  in  the  nation 
as  wanton  murderers,  house  burners  and  horse  thieves,  but 
whose  fraternity  was  not  of  the  dominant  party;  among  the 
mass  of  the  people  there  was  no  discontent,  the  bitterness  and 
hostility  to  the  dominant  party  being  confined  to  only  a  few. 
The  commission  concluded  its  report  by  recommending  a  new 
treaty  on  the  basis  of  President  Tyler's  letter.10 

The  investigation  had  been  comprehensive,  thorough;  its 
report  was  clear,  logical,  and  based  on  the  real  merits  of  the 
case.  It  would  seem  that  there  was  no  occasion  for  further 
delay,  but  that  the  time  for  action  had  arrived.    Justice  to  all 

10  Cong.  Doc.  457,  No.  140,  pp.  5-14. 


Political  Readjustment  155 

parties  demanded  it.  When  the  report  of  the  commission  reached 
the  President,  however,  the  country  had  just  emerged  from  the 
throes  of  another  presidential  election  resulting  this  time  in 
the  final  overthrow  of  the  Whigs.  Mr.  Tyler,  with  an  eye  single 
to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  was  willing  to  leave  the  much  vexed 
Cherokee  question  to  the  tender  mercies  of  his  successor,  who 
during  the  first  months  of  his  administration,  was  too  concerned 
with  important  foreign  relations  and  domestic  affairs  to  trouble 
himself  much  about  distracted  Indians. 

Seeing  no  probability  of  adjustment,  and  having  become 
satisfied  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  maintain  a 
peaceful  and  happy  residence  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  while  John 
Ross  and  his  party  remained  dominant,  the  Old  Settlers  and 
Treaty  party,  in  the  fall  of  1845,  resolved  to  seek  a  new  home 
in  Mexico.  An  exploring  party  of  forty  was  sent  out  to  find 
a  suitable  location.  On  their  return  a  meeting  was  held  at 
which  it  was  decided  to  ask  the  United  States  to  provide  them 
a  home  in  the  Texas  country  upon  the  relinquishment  of  all 
their  interests  in  the  Cherokee  Nation;  or  to  assign  a  section 
of  the  Cherokee  Nation  to  them  with  the  privilege  of 
adopting  their  own  form  of  government  and  living  under 
it  without  molestation.  General  Arbuckle  and  the  Governor 
of  Arkansas  approved  the  measure  and  urged  upon  the 
authorities  at  Washington  the  necessity  of  legislation  to 
carry  it  into  effect.11  In  response  to  their  request  the  Com- 
missioner of  Indian  Affairs,  William  Medill,  utterly  disregard- 
ing the  report  of  the  Tyler  commission,  sent  to  President  Polk 
a  communication  approving  the  plea  and  claiming  that  the  act 
of  union  between  the  factions  was  of  no  binding  force.12  In- 
fluenced by  this  report  the  executive,  in  a  message  to  Congress 
April  13,  1846,  recommended  that,  as  there  was  no  probability 
qi  the  different  parties  being  able  to  ever  live  together  in  peace 
'and  harmony,  the  well-being  of  the  whole  tribe  required  that 

"Letter  of  Agent  McKissick  to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
May  12,  1846;  and  General  Arbuckle  to  Secretary  of  War,  Feb.  12,  1848; 
also  report  of  Agent  McKissick  July  4,  1846;  Report  of  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs,  1846. 

13  Cong.  Doc.  470,  No.  298. 


156      John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

they  should  be  separated  and  live  under  different  governments 
as  distinct  tribes.13 

The  National  party  resented  this  recommendation  and  vig- 
orously objected  to  any  Federal  interference  with  their  inter- 
nal affairs,  particularly  to  having  their  country  divided  and 
the  authority  of  the  United  States  courts  extended  over  them,14 
regarding  it  as  a  distinct  violation  of  the  article  in  the  New 
Echota  Treaty15  promising  the  Indians  protection  in  the  laws 
which  they  should  make,  providing  only  that  these  laws  should 
not  be  inconsistent  with  those  of  the  United  States.  While 
the  project  of  separation  was  not  carried  out,  it  served  to 
encourage  the  belief  of  the  weaker  parties  that  the  Fed- 
eral Government  would  interfere  in  their  behalf,  and  to 
the  detriment  of  the  whole  tribe,  to  keep  the  factional  spirit 
keyed  to  the  highest  pitch.  Personal  and  party  feuds  resulted 
in  a  series  of  murders  which  led  to  the  organization  of  bands 
of  all  factions  for  the  purpose  of  depredation,  retaliation,  or 
protection;  and  the  country  was  again  plunged  into  a  reign 
of  terror. 

The  situation  in  the  summer  of  1846  became  so  serious  that 
all  parties  recognized  the  necessity  of  the  immediate  settlement 
of  the  trouble.  Accordingly,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  three 
factions  whose  representatives  were  in  Washington,  a  com- 
mission was  appointed  with  power  to  examine  into  the  cause 
of  the  controversey  and  adjust  them  if  possible.16  As  a  mea- 
sure of  precaution  a  memorandum  of  agreement  was  drawn 
up,  which  bound  all  parties  to  abide  absolutely  by  the  decision 
of  the  commission  and  to  sign  such  agreement  as  should  be 
necessary  to  insure  the  execution  of  a  treaty.  The  result  was 
the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  on  August  6,  184*6. 17 

It  stated  that  "The  lands  now  occupied  by  the  Cherokee 
Nation  should  be  secured  to  the  whole  Cherokee  people  for  their 
common  use  and  benefit",  the  United  States  to  issue  a  patent 

13  Richardson's  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  IV,  p.  430. 

14  Cong.  Doc.  476,  No.  33. 

15  Article  5. 

16  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  to  Major  Armstrong,  June  24,  1846. 

17  Ratified  and  proclaimed  by  the  President,  August  17,  1846. 


Political  Readjustment  157 

for  the  said  land  which,  in  case  the  Cherokees  became  extinct  or 
abandoned  the  country,  should  revert  to  the  United  States;  it 
was  agreed  that  difficulties  and  party  differences  should  cease; 
a  general  amnesty  for  all  offenses  was  declared,  and  laws  were 
to  be  passed  for  the  equal  protection  of  all ;  all  armed  police  or 
military  organizations  were  to  be  disbanded  and  the  laws  exe- 
cuted by  civil  powers ;  the  United  States  agreed  to  reimburse  to 
the  Cherokees  all  sums  unjustly  deducted  from  the  five  million 
dollars  under  the  treaty  of  1835,  and  to  distribute  what  re- 
mained of  that  amount  according  to  the  treaty.  As  to  the 
claims  of  the  Old  Settlers  to  sole  ownership  of  the  lands  of  the 
Western  Nation  it  was  decided  that  they  had  no  exclusive  title 
as  against  the  Eastern  Cherokees  who,  by  the  treaty  of  1835, 
had  acquired  a  common  interest  in  the  western  lands.  On  the 
other  hand  the  Old  Settlers  were  to  be  given  one-third  interest 
in  what  remained  of  the  five  millions  received  for  the  Eastern 
Nation,  which  was  to  be  paid  per  capita.  The  Treaty  Party 
was  to  be  indemnified  to  the  amount  of  $11 5,000. 18  The  sum 
of  $2,000  was  allowed  for  the  printing  presses  seized  by  the 
Georgia  Guard  in  1835,  and  $5,000  was  to  be  equally  divided 
among  those  who  had  been  deprived  of  their  arms  by  General 
Scott.19  The  treaty  left  to  the  Senate  to  decide  whether  the 
amount  of  subsistence  was  to  be  chargeable  to  the  treaty  fund 
and  whether  interest  should  be  allowed,  and  at  what  rate  and 
from  what  time.  A  clause  also  provided  that  the  treaty  should 
not  take  away  from  the  Cherokees  still  living  in  the  east  their 
right  to  citizenship  in  the  Cherokee  Nation.20 

After  all  the  years  of  bickering  and  delay,  confusion  and 
bloodshed,  there  was  at  last  a  treaty  for  justice  and  peace. 
What  could  have  been  more  welcome  to  the  distracted  tribe 
than  the  adjustment  of  their  standing  with  the  United  States 
and  the  establishment  of  peace  and  harmony  at  home?  The 
bitterness  of  party  feeling,  however,  was  too  deep-seated  to 
yield,  at  this  stage  of  the  game,  to  so  simple  a  remedy  as  a 
mere  paper  contract.  Nor  did  the  treaty  bring  the  long 
expected  and  much  needed  financial  relief  to  the  country. 

18 $5,000  going  to  the  heirs  of  Major  Ridge,  and  an  equal  sum  to  the 
families  each  of  John  Ridge  and  Elias  Boudinot. 
19  9  United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  871. 
'^Ibid. 


158  JOHN  ROSS  AND  THE   CHEROKEE  INDIANS 

The  elucidation  of  the  ambiguous  document  was  not  the 
work  of  days  or  weeks  but  of  months  and  years.  After  two 
years'  study  and  deliberation  Commissioner  Medill  expressed 
it  as  his  opinion  that  the  five  million  dollars  was  in  full  for  the 
entire  session  of  the  eastern  land  and  nothing  more  should  be 
paid  for  removal,  subsistence  or  any  other  purpose.21  Against 
this  interpretation  the  Cherokees  entered  a  vigorous  protest, 
and  disagreement22  and  contention  on  the  part  of  both  sides  de- 
layed a  settlement;  the  question  in  all  its  perplexity  drifted  on 
for  another  cpuple  of  years.  It  was  not  until  August,  1850, 
that  the  Senate  Committee  to  whom  the  treaty  had  been  re- 
ferred reached  a  conclusion.  Their  decision  upheld  the  claim 
of  the  Cherokees  that  the  charge  for  subsisting  the  emigrants 
during  and  a  year  after  removal  ought  to  be  borne  by  the 
United  States,  and  that  the  expense  of  removal  agents  was  not 
rightfulty  chargeable  to  the  Cherokees,  but  should  be  borne  by 
the  Federal  Government.  Their  award  for  these  things,  how- 
ever, was  very  conservative,  and  far  from  what  the  Cherokees 
had  a  right  to  expect. 

After  the  amount  of  the  award  had  been  fixed  there  was 
further  delay  in  securing  the  necessary  appropriation  by  Con- 
gress. The  last  item  was  provided  for  by  an  act  of  February 
27,  1851. 23  This  was  done  with  the  requirement  that  it  should 
be  in  full  settlement  for  all  claims  and  demands  of  the  Cherokee 
Nation  against  the  United  States  under  any  treaty  thereto- 
fore made  by  them.  Instructions  were  finally  issued  in  Sep- 
tember to  John  Drennan,  Superintendent  of  the  Southern  Di- 
vision, to  proceed  without  delay  to  make  the  payment.  Thus 
Georgia  had  been  in  full  possession  of  the  Eastern  lands  of  the 
tribe  for  fifteen  years  before  the  original  owners  had  received 
any  compensation  whatever  for  them. 

Neither  the  Old  Settlers  nor  the  Emigrants  were  satisfied 
with  the  decision  of  the  Senate.  The  former  received  what 
was  paid  to  them  under  protest  lest  their  acceptance  of  it 
should  be  so  construed  as  to  prevent  them,  in  the  future,  from 

21  Cong.  Doc.  521,  No.  65,  p.  6. 

22  Cong.  Doc.  511,  No.  146. 

23  Cong.   Globe,  2nd  Session  31st  Congress,  p.  602. 


Political  Readjustment  159 

urging  claims  which  they  considered  just  but  which  were  not 
admitted  by  the  treaty.  Before  accepting  the  money  and  com- 
plying with  conditions  prescribed  by  Congress,  the  National 
Council  registered  its  disapproval  by  a  set  of  resolutions 
solemnly  protesting  against  the  injustice  its  people  had  suffered 
through  the  treaties  of  1835  and  1846,  copies  of  which  they 
sent  to  both  Houses  of  Congress. 

The  per  capita  payment  brought  a  short  period  of  indi- 
vidual prosperity  which  showed  itself  in  improved  farms  and 
farming  implements,  better  buildings,  and  larger  herds  of  cattle 
and  horses.  The  Cherokee  government,  unfortunately,  did  not 
share  this  prosperity.  With  no  revenue  other  than  the  small 
income  derived  from  the  invested  funds  in  the  United  States, 
and  with  the  heavy  expenses  incurred  by  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  schools  and  the  carrying  on  of  the  government, 
the  national  debt  increased  year  by  year  until  it  assumed  em- 
barrassing proportions.  The  district  schools  began  to  languish 
for  lack  of  funds  and  the  high  schools,  in  which  they  had  taken 
such  pride,  were  finally  closed  for  the  same  reason. 

To  add  to  the  perplexity  there  swept  over  the  southwest 
in  the  summer  of  1854  a  blasting  south  wind  accompanied  by 
a  drought  which  blighted  the  promising  crops,  parched  the 
vegetation  and  caused  a  partial  water  famine.  Taken  utterly 
by  surprise,  the  people  were  unprepared  for  such  an  emergency 
and  before  the  end  of  the  year  many  of  them  had  been  reduced 
to  destitution  amounting  almost  to  starvation.  In  this  situa- 
tion, in  the  fall  of  1854,  they  determined  to  send  a  delegation 
to  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  arranging,  if  possible,  the 
sale  of  some  of  their  surplus  detached  lands  as  a  measure  of 
relief  from  the  burden  of  their  public  debt,  and  to  replenish 
their  exhausted  school  fund.  A  large  part  of  the  winter  was 
spent  in  fruitless  negotiations  and  the  delegation  was  at  last 
forced  to  return  home  empty  handed,  much  to  the  disappoint- 
ment and  dissatisfaction  of  their  people.24 

The  only  point  gained  was  the  removal  of  the  garrison  at 
Fort  Gibson.  This  was  not  actually  accomplished,  however, 
until  three  years  later.     In  1857  Chief  Ross  in  his  message  to 

24  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian  A  fairs,   1854. 


160  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  Council  authorized  the  site  of  the  abandoned  post  to  be 
laid  off  into  town  lots  and  sold  to  Cherokee  citizens,  the 
proceeds  to  go  into  their  national  treasury.  Provision  was 
made  for  the  preservation  of  the  burying  grounds  which  con- 
tain the  remains  of  several  United  States  officers.  The  sale 
of  the  lots  netted  the  nation  the  sum  of  $20,000,  not  a  large 
amount,  to  be  sure,  but  it  was  of  some  help.  Notwithstanding 
civil  unrest  and  financial  embarrassment,  together  with  other 
handicaps  and  annoyances,  the  Cherokees  continued  to  gain 
ground  slowly  but  surely,  showing  administrative  ability  of 
no  mean  order  and  a  real  capacity  for  Anglo  Saxon  civilization, 
the  theory  of  certain  sociologists  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development 

Having  followed  the  political  fortunes  of  the  Cherokees  in 
the  west  it  may  be  of  interest  to  glance  at  their  industrial 
and  educational  development  during  the  two  decades  following 
removal. 

Confused  by  the  unsettled  state  of  their  own,  and  embar- 
rassed by  the  dilatory  policy  of  the  Federal  Government,  the 
Emigrants,  nevertheless,  had  lost  little  time  in  trying  to  adjust 
themselves  to  an  unfamiliar  environment  and  to  gain  an  eco- 
nomic footing  in  the  new  country.  But  a  period  of  "hard 
times"  was  not  to  be  avoided.  The  subsistence  promised  for  one 
year  by  the  United  States1  could  not  be  depended  upon.  Rations, 
dealt  out  irregularly,  were  frequently  of  such  inferior  quality 
as  to  be  practically  unfit  for  use.  The  flour  and  meal  were 
musty  and  the  beef,  grass  fed,  was  tough  and  unwholesome. 
For  a  supply  of  fresh  meat  they  had  to  depend  almost  entirely 
upon  primitive  traps,  blow  guns,  bows  and  arrows,  and  gigs;2 
the  guns  of  which  they  had  been  deprived  in  the  east  just  be- 
fore removal  had  neither  been  returned  nor  paid  for.3  The 
problem  of  building  houses  and  clearing  and  cultivating  fields 
was  made  difficult  by  the  scarcity  of  carpenters,  tools,  and 
farming  implements  which  the  cost  of  transportation  to  such 
a  remote  region  made  doubly  dear,  and  which  most  of  the 
people  had  no  money  to  buy  at  any  price. 

They  would  have  fared  ill,  indeed,  the  first  few  months  after 
their  arrival  but  for  the  older  members  of  the  community.  In 
spite  of  political  feuds  and  personal  quarrels  the  main  body  of 
the  Old  Settlers  received  the  newcomers  with  that  hospitality 
to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  from  time  immemorial, 
which  was  a  part  of  their  ancient  religion,  and  which  they  had 
not  yet  outgrown.  And  so  nearly  connected  by  bonds  of  kin- 
ship and  clanship  were  the  two  divisions  of  the  tribe  that  the 
helping  hand  of  the  one  had  not  far  to  reach  in  order  to  relieve 

1  Treaty  of  1835. 

2  For  spearing  fish. 

•The  treaty  of  1846  contains  an  item  of  $5,000  to  cover  their  value. 


162  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

the  need  of  the  other.  The  loan  of  a  plow  or  an  axe  for 
several  days,  or  a  few  bushels  of  corn  until  a  crop  was  made, 
the  gift  of  a  hen  and  a  setting  of  eggs,  the  use  of  a  loom  and 
enough  yarn  to  weave  a  blanket  or  some  cloth,  helped  to  tide 
over  the  crisis  and  give  "a  start"  to  these  victims  of  Andrew 
Jackson's  Indian  policy  backed  up  by  Anglo  Saxon  acquisi- 
tiveness under  the  guise  of  necessary  economic  development. 
The  proverbial  "lazy  Indian"  was  hard  to  find  among  the 
Cherokee  people  for  many  years.  It  was  a  case  of  work  or  do 
worse  with  most  of  them ;  and,  although  they  have  always  been 
considered  an  abstemious  people  with  few  and  simple  wants,  for 
a  time,  it  taxed  their  ingenuity  and  energy  to  the  utmost  to 
provide  the  merest  shelter  and  the  barest  subsistence.  But 
the  knowledge  of  agriculture  and  household  arts  learned  in  the 
old  nation  was  gradually  adjusted  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  new 
in  spite  of  various  drawbacks ;  and,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
there  were  good  farms  and  comfortable  homes  with  vegetable 
gardens,  and  orchards,  for  the  more  thrifty,  while  the  most  un- 
progressive  full-blood  had  his  log  cabin  and  his  maize  patch. 

The  land  was  found  to  be  more  desirable  than  had  been 
expected.  The  uplands  proved  to  be  good  farming  land,  while 
the  river  valleys  were  very  fertile,  and  when  cleared  and  cul- 
tivated produced  richer  harvests  than  the  Georgia  and  Ten- 
nessee fields  had  afforded.  Grass  grew  luxuriantly  on  the 
prairies,  furnishing  abundant  pasturage  for  cattle,  horses  and 
sheep  which  throve  marvelously  without  care  or  expense.  Hogs 
ran  wild  in  the  woods,  fattened  on  the  mast  and  multiplied  by 
tens.  Game,  such  as  prairie  chickens,  wild  turkeys  and  deer, 
was  plentiful,  and  wild  fruit  and  berries  flourished  in  their 
season. 

As  in  the  old  nation,  the  land  was  held  in  common,  the  im- 
provements only  being  the  exclusive  and  indefeasible  property 
of  the  individual.4  Any  Cherokee  citizen,  natural  or  adopted, 
might  fence  a  farm  and  improve  a  home  wherever  his  fancy  or 
business  judgment  suggested,  so  long  as  he  did  not  encroach 
upon  the  rights  of  a  former  settler.  The  unfenced  land  was  the 
common  property  of  the  tribe. 

*Art.  I,  Sec.  1  of  the  Constitution  of  1839. 


Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development  163 

There  was  no  provision  made  for  white  settlers,  except  in 
the  law  making  it  compulsory  for  a  Cherokee  citizen  employing 
a  white  man,  to  secure  a  permit,  for  which  he  paid  by  the  month 
or  the  year,  whether  the  laborer  worked  for  wages  or  rented 
the  land  for  a  certain  per  cent  of  the  crops.  Another  law 
granted  to  certain  United  States  citizens  the  privilege  of  es- 
tablishing stores  of  general  merchandise  and  engaging  in  trade 
under  a  license  from  the  Cherokee  government. 

Intermarried  whites  were  given  practically  the  same  rights 
and  privileges  as  the  Indians  themselves  except  that  of  holding 
office,  but  outsiders  were  not  encouraged  to  come  into  the 
nation;  those  who  persisted  in  doing  so  were  considered  in- 
truders and  shown  cold  courtesy.  Otherwise  the  country  would 
have  soon  become  a  refuge  for  criminals  and  outlaws  from  the 
States  and  an  asylum  for  all  sorts  of  defective  and  distressed 
humanity  who  would  have  hung  like  a  millstone  about  the  neck 
of  a  nation  already  bowed  under  the  burdens  of  its  own  people ; 
and  the  land  hungry  pioneers  from  the  very  states  from  which 
the  Cherokees  had  been  expelled  would  soon  have  been  elbowing 
the  Indian  out  of  his  new  home  just  as  they  had  done  from  the 
old.  In  spite  of  the  laws  and  protests  of  the  Cherokee  Council 
and  the  "cold  shoulder"  given  them  by  the  Indians  themselves, 
intruders  and  squatters  proved  a  perpetual  nuisance  to  the 
country.  Washington  Irving,  in  his  Tour  of  the  Prairies** 
gives  us  a  very  good  description  of  one  of  these  rough,  uncouth, 
rawboned  sons  of  the  frontier,  who,  with  no  very  clear  concep- 
tion of  the  distinction  between  thine  and  mine,  showed  scant 
consideration  for  the  feelings  and  rights  of  others  in  his  con- 
tinual search  for  more  elbow  room.  When  once  he  had  gained 
a  footing  it  was  almost  impossible  to  dislodge  him.  He  and  his 
children  were  always  a  demoralizing  influence  to  the  Indians, 
either  through  lawlessness  or  intermarriage,  for  he  was  often 
a  fugitive  from  justice  in  the  state  from  which  he  hailed  and 
seldom  reformed  under  frontier  conditions.  His  sons  and 
daughters,  uneducated  and  possessing  many  of  the  traits  of 
the  parent,  were  not  an  elevating  influence  when  they  became 
Cherokee  citizens  by  marrying  into  the  tribe,  as  some  of  them 
did. 

4aPage  8. 


164  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Following  the  example  of  the  south  or  their  own  interest 
and  inclination,  the  Cherokees  did  not  gather  into  towns  and 
villages  to  any  extent,  but  formed  neighborhood  settlements. 
These  settlements  were  frequently,  though  not  always,  composed 
almost  entirely  of  those  related  by  blood  and  marriage,  for, 
as  has  already  been  said,  the  clan  tie  was  a  strong  bond  with 
the  Indians  and  bound  them  more  or  less  strongly  through  all 
their  changing  fortunes. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  neighborhood  communi- 
ties was  Park  Hill,  situated  about  five  miles  south  of  Tahlequah. 
Here  a  church  and  day  mission  had  been  started  by  Dr.  Wor- 
cester, and  a  printing  press  set  up,  on  which  various  kinds  of 
interesting  things  were  being  printed, — tracts,  hymns,  a  primer, 
the  Bible  in  both  Cherokee  and  Choctaw,5  and  an  almanac 
computed  for  the  meridian  of  Fort  Gibson  containing  all  sorts 
of  useful  information  arranged  somewhat  on  the  order  of  Benja- 
min Franklin's  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,  and  printed  in  both 
the  Cherokee  and  the  English  languages. 

The  rich  valley  to  the  north  of  Park  Hill  commended  itself 
to  a  number  of  the  emigrants,  among  whom  was  Chief  Ross. 
Selecting  a  site  for  a  home  about  two  miles  from  the  mission 
station  he  built  a  modest  little  house  which  he  called  Rose  Cot- 
tage. With  the  arrival  of  more  prosperous  days,  which,  how- 
ever, were  slow  in  coming,  the  cottage  gave  place  to  a  brick  man- 
sion furnished  with  rosewood  and  mahogany,  with  silver  plate 
and  imported  china.  The  grounds  surrounding  them  were  set 
with  shrubbery  and  choice  flowers  after  the  most  approved 
fashion  of  landscape  gardening  of  the  time,  while  the  kitchen 
garden  and  the  orchard  were  planned  on  a  scale  sufficiently  large 
to  supply  the  demands  of  the  family  table,  never  without  guests, 
and  to  feed  a  retinue  of  house  and  field  servants.  A  blacksmith 
shop,  a  kiln,  a  laundry,  a  smokehouse,  a  dairy,  also  negro  cabins 
galore  were  gradually  added  to  the  equipment  of  the  estate. 

Mr.  Ross  had  married,  in  1844,  Miss  Mary  Brain  Stapler, 
a  young  woman  from  Wilmington,  New  Jersey,  whom  he  had 
met  when  on  a  trip   east  to   put   some  boys   in   school.      She 

5  Missionaries  among  the  Choctaws  had  succeeded  in  translating  a  part 
of  the  Bible  into  that  language,  and  Dr.  Worcester  was  printing  it  for  them. 


Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development  165 

was  a  student  in  a  boarding  school  at  the  time  and  he  was  a 
man  of  more  than  fifty.  It  was  a  case  of  love  at  first  sight 
on  both  sides,  and  the  union,  in  spite  of  the  disparity  of  their 
ages  proved  to  be  a  very  happy  one.  They  lived  in  rather 
magnificent  style  for  the  time,  always  keeping  open  house  and 
frequently  giving  big  dinners.  The  plantation  which  came  to 
include  a  thousand  acres  or  more  was  worked  by  slaves  and 
proved  to  be  immensely  profitable.  It  was  conducted  like  all 
the  plantations  of  the  south  and  everything  in  the  way  of 
food,  clothing,  and  implements  used  on  the  plantation  was 
raised  or  manufactured  there.  Only  the  luxuries  of  the  "great 
house-'  and  its  inmates  were  imported  from  the  outside. 
Although  rumor,  with  her  hundred  tongues,  spread  the  belief 
that  such  elegance  as  the  chief  and  his  family  enjoyed  could 
only  have  been  secured  by  diverting  part  of  the  contents  of  the 
national  money  chest  into  his  private  coffers,  satisfactory  proof 
of  the  accusation  is  entirely  lacking. 

From  the  first,  slavery  became  an  established  institution  in 
the  western  nation  just  as  it  had  been  in  the  east.  Those 
who  could  afford  to  do  so  took  their  servants  with  them  when 
they  emigrated.  It  was  considered  an  indication  of  wealth  and 
standing  in  the  community  to  own  negroes,  consequently  every- 
one who  could  afford  to  do  so  owned  one  or  more.  Chief  Ross  in 
1861  had  seventy,  and  other  men  of  wealth  were  masters  of 
as  many  or  more. 

Missionaries  of  the  old  nation  had  either  preceded  the  emi- 
grants to  the  west  or  followed  them  there.  Of  the  Reverend 
Cephas  Washburn,  his  mission  at  Dwight  and  his  work  among 
the  Cherokees  West,  something  has  already  been  said.  Of  those 
who  accompanied  the  emigrants,  Dr.  Butler,  the  Reverend 
Evans  Jones,6  and  others  enjoyed  the  unbounded  confidence 
of  their  adopted  people.  They  were  men  of  education  and 
ability  who  could  have  filled  with  credit  almost  any  pulpit  in 
the  country.  But  for  the  unparalleled  services  which  he 
rendered  the  people,  the  full-blood  Cherokees,  Dr.  S.  A.  Wor- 
cester7 stands  out  a  unique  figure  among  missionaries  to  the 

"Couch,  Nevada.    Pages  of  Cherokee  Indian  History. 

7  Pilling,  James  C,  Bibliography  of  the  Iroquois  Languages,  pp.  170-175. 


166  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Indians.  It  will  be  remembered  that  he  was  among  the  early 
missionaries  in  the  old  country  and  had  shown  his  loyalty  to 
the  Cherokees  by  willingly  suffering  imprisonment  for  cham- 
pioning their  cause  in  Georgia.  He  was  a  whole-souled,  gen- 
erous man  and  a  broad-minded,  tolerant  Christian,  proclaiming 
that  not  the  form  of  worship  but  the  spirit  of  it,  is  pleasing  to 
God;  not  the  making  of  a  solemn  vow,  but  the  keeping  of  it 
proves  one's  title  to  life  eternal.  Doctor  and  educator  as  well 
as  preacher,  he  was  interested  in  every  activity  of  Cherokee  life, 
seeking  to  render  efficient  service  wherever  he  was  most  needed, 
eager  to  bring  physical  relief  to  a  sick  baby,  to  shed  mental 
light  upon  the  mind  of  the  humblest  child,  or  to  preach  the 
gospel  of  salvation  to  benighted  and  sin-cursed  men  and  women. 
Himself  a  scholar  of  no  mean  ability,  his  whole  training  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  problem  of  bringing  knowledge  and 
Christianity  within  the  range  of  those  who  did  not  understand 
the  English  language.  In  order  to  do  this  he  planned  to  pre- 
pare textbooks  on  various  subjects  in  the  Cherokee  language. 
At  one  time  he  began  the  arrangement  and  translation  of  a 
geography  which  he  was  compelled  to  give  up  because  it  took 
too  much  time  from  his  work  on  the  Bible.  A  grammar  and  a 
dictionary,  which  were  in  a  forward  state  of  preparation  when 
he  left  Georgia,  were  lost  with  all  the  rest  of  his  effects  when 
the  steamboat  on  which  he  was  going  west  sank  in  the  Arkansas. 
Many  tracts,  pamphlets  and  some  sermons  were  printed  in  the 
Indian  language  and  distributed  freely  among  the  full-bloods 
who  read  them  eagerly. 

Upon  his  release  from  the  penitentiary  Dr.  Worcester  had 
found  his  hands  tied  as  long  as  he  stayed  in  Georgia  or  Tennes- 
see. Eager  to  be  at  his  work  again  he  therefore  determined  to 
go  west  just  about  the  time  the  New  Echota  Treaty  was  nego- 
tiated.8 Unfortunately  for  him  and  the  cause  he  was  so  eager  to 
serve  his  motives  in  leaving  at  this  time  were  misunderstood. 

8  He  was  not  in  favor  of  the  treaty  and  counseled  Mr.  Boudinot  and 
others  against  signing  it  as  long  as  it  was  opposed  by  a  majority  of 
the  tribe.  Drake,  Biography  and  History  of  the  Indians  of  North  America; 
Couch;  Mooney,  p.  218;  Pilling,  Bibliography  of  the  Iroquois  Languages, 
pp.  40-42;  Articles,  Worcester;  the  Cherokee  Phoenix;  Report  of  Indian 
Commissioner,  for  1843  (Worcester  Letters). 


Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development  167 

Those  who  opposed  the  treaty  accused  him  of  deserting  their 
cause,  and  when  they  found  themselves  in  power  in  the  west 
threatened  to  drive  him  from  the  country.  This  misunderstand- 
ing and  the  untimely  death  of  Mr.  Boudinot  proved  a  serious 
handicap  to  his  work  to  the  end  of  his  long  and  busy  life,  which, 
in  spite  of  hardships  and  injustice,  stands  today  as  an  example 
of  what  a  consecrated  mind  coupled  with  a  consuming  energy 
may  accomplish  for  education  and  Christianity.  Sequoyah  in- 
vented for  the  Cherokees  an  alphabet,  and  they  proudly  and  ap- 
propriately hail  him  the  Cadmus  of  their  race.  Dr.  Worcester 
consecrated  that  alphabet  to  the  purpose  of  raising  the  nation 
to  a  higher  plane  of  living  and  thinking.  Yet  the  name  of  the 
Messenger,  as  he  was  called,  is  scarcely  mentioned  in  their  fire- 
side history  today.  The  Cherokees  are  not  often  chargeable 
with  such  lack  of  appreciation. 

Besides  Butler,  Worcester,  and  Jones  there  were  other  con- 
secrated men  and  women  who  preached  and  taught  in  the 
Cherokee  country.  There  were  also  native  interpreters  and 
preachers  of  ability  and  education.  Jesse  Bushyhead,  Stephen 
Foreman,  William  Lasley  and  John  Huss  are  some  of  them. 
These  native  preachers  had  the  advantage  of  speaking  first- 
hand to  the  people,  and  the  eloquence  which  once  thrilled 
listeners  around  the  council  fires,  inspiring  warriors  to  valorous 
action  against  the  enemy,  now  spoke  from  the  pulpit  persuad- 
ing men  to  nobler  lives  and  inspiring  them  to  higher  purposes 
and  ambitions.  Their  ability  to  interpret  and  explain  the 
Christian  religion  in  terms  familar  to  them  through  their  old 
pagan  faith,  tribal  customs  and  even  superstititions  appealed 
to  the  full-blood  element  who  were  converted  to  Christianity 
as  they  could  have  been  by  no  white  man,  however  able  and 
zealous.  It  is  unquestionably  due  in  no  small  measure  to  them 
and  their  teachings  that  a  Christian  spirit  dominated  the  masses 
of  the  Cherokees  under  circumstances  which  might  have  ren- 
dered God-fearing  Anglo  Saxons  little  better  than  savages. 
And  as  a  civilizing  and  educating  as  well  as  Christianizing 
power  their  influence  and  that  of  the  missionaries  was  exceed- 
ingly important. 


168  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

There  had  been  no  public  school  system  in  the  old  nation 
for  the  reason  that,  just  at  the  time  when  their  national  finances 
might  have  justified  them  in  starting  one,  Georgia  had  ex- 
tended her  laws  over  the  nation  putting  an  end  to  all  hope  of 
progress  in  that  direction.  But  it  will  be  remembered  that  a 
school  fund  had  been  provided  by  the  treaty  of  1819,  when  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  a  small  tract  of  land  in  Alabama  had 
been  set  aside  for  that  purpose.  The  constitution  of  1839  con- 
tains this  clause:  "Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being 
necessary  to  good  government,  the  preservation  of  liberty,  and 
the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education 
shall  forever  be  encouraged  in  this  nation".9  The  Council 
three  weeks  later  followed  up  the  constitution  by  a  law  provid- 
ing for  a  school  system  to  be  organized  by  a  board  of  education 
composed  of  three  members.10  Because  of  financial  straits  the 
school  question  languished  for  a  time,  but  in  1841  a  law  was 
passed  providing  for  the  establishment  of  eleven  primary  schools 
to  be  distributed  according  to  population  in  the  various  dis- 
tricts. The  law  also  provided  for  a  superintendent  of  educa- 
tion who  should  appoint,  for  each  school,  a  board  of  directors 
composed  of  three  members  who  should  hold  office  on  good  be- 
havior and  whose  business  it  was  to  locate  and  superintend  the 
building  of  school  houses,  to  employ  teachers  for  their  respec- 
ive  schools,  to  prescribe  the  kind  of  textbook  to  be  used  and  the 
branches  to  be  taught.11  Within  five  years  there  were  eighteen 
schools12  in  operation  under  these  laws  and  an  enrollment  of 
six  hundred  and  fifty-five  pupils.  Thirteen  years  later  they 
had  increased  to  thirty  with  an  enrollment  of  fifteen  hundred. 
All  but  two  of  the  teachers  were  natives  who  proved  themselves 
well  qualified  for  their  work.13     The  course  of  study  included 

eArt.  VI,  Sec.  9. 

10  Cong.  Doc.  411,  No.  1098. 

u  Information  furnished  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Wyley,  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion for  the  Cherokees. 

u  The  salaries  of  the  teachers  averaged  forty  dollars  a  month.  The 
school  year  was  divided  into  two  terms  of  five  months  each  with  one  month's 
vacation  in  winter  and  one  in  summer. 

13  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1859,  p.  178. 


Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development  169 

geography,  history  and  the  Testament,  in  addition  to  A,  B,  C, 
and  the  "Rule  of  Three".14 

In  order  to  provide  their  youth  with  the  advantages  of  a 
higher  education  the  Council,  in  1846,  passed  a  law  establishing 
two  seminaries  of  high  school  rank,  one  for  boys  and  one  for 
girls.  The  former  was  located  in  the  valley  a  little  more  than 
a  mile  from  the  Capitol;  the  latter,  near  Park  Hill.15  The 
corner  stones  were  laid  by  Chief  Ross  on  June  17,  1847,  and 
the  buildings  were  finished  and  ready  to  be  opened  three  years 
later.  They  were  two-story  brick  structures  of  colonial 
architecture  protected  on  three  sides  with  wide  galleries  sup- 
ported by  huge  brick  columns.  Each  accommodated  about  a 
hundred  students  who  boarded  in  the  institution  at  a  very 
reasonable  price.  Especial  provision  was  made  for  indigent 
children,  so  that  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  poorest  girl  or 
boy  who  had  enough  ambition  and  energy  to  get  a  very  fair 
education  free  of  cost.  Miss  Sarah  Worcester  and  Miss  Ellen 
Whitmire,  two  very  superior  young  women,  educated  at  Mount 
Holyoke,  were  engaged  as  the  first  teachers  at  the  Park  Hill 
Seminary,  and  Miss  E.  Jane  Ross,16  who  had  been  educated  in 
the  east  was  later  added  to  the  faculty. 

The  course  of  study  included  geometry,  geography,  botany, 
arithmetic,  history,  Latin,  Greek  and  such  subjects  as  Watt's 
Improvement  of  the  Mind,  and  Paley's  Natural  Theology  and 
Intellectual  Philosophy.17  Little  attempt  was  made  at  indus- 
trial education  except  that  each  student  was  assigned  by  turns 
to  some  special  duty  in  the  general  housekeeping  scheme  over 
which  a  rigid  supervision  was  maintained  by  members  of  the 
faculty.  Religious  training  was  not  neglected.  The  Bible  was 
taught  daily,  while  on  Sunday  religious  services  were  conducted 
in  the  institution. 

The  principal  chief  himself  not  infrequently  attended  the 
preaching  service  at  the  female  seminary,  his  arrival  and  de- 

u  The  report  of  Mr.  James  Payne,  first  Superintendent  of  Schools  of 
the  Cherokee  Nation,,  found  in  pamphlet  report  of  the  Board  of  Education 
for  1887. 

15  From  which  it  took  its  name,  the  Park  Hill  Female  Seminary. 

*  A  niece  of  John  Ross. 

17  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1854,  pp.  123-24. 


170  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

parture  always  proving  the  most  interesting  and  exciting  event 
of  the  day.  His  coming,  viewed  with  far  more  interest  than 
that  of  the  preacher,  was  heralded  by  the  students  through  hall 
and  corridor,  and  groups  of  eager,  bright  eyed  Indian  girls 
filled  every  available  window  and  doorway  to  view  the  splendid 
spectacle  as  the  negro  coachman  drew  up  the  team  of  blacks 
at  the  entrance  with  a  nourish.  And  when  the  courtly  chief, 
clad  in  broadcloth,  descended  to  conduct  the  first  lady  of 
their  land,  arrayed  in  rich  silks  and  real  lace,  into  the  seminary 
chapel  their  pleasure  and  pride  bordered  on  ecstasy.18 

The  students  of  the  neighboring  institutions  were  no  less 
enthusiastic  in  their  admiration  of  Chief  Ross,  and  occasionally 
some  of  the  older  boys  had  the  temerity  to  walk  out  to  Rose 
Cottage  when  they  knew  the  chief  was  at  home  just  for  the 
pleasure  and  profit  of  a  visit  with  him.  Busy  man  of  affairs 
as  he  was,  he  never  denied  them  an  interview,  and  subjects  of 
interest  wrere  discussed  as  gravely  and  as  courteously  with  them 
as  business  of  state  with  the  executive  council.  And,  perhaps 
not  least  in  importance  to  the  mind  of  a  hearty  seminary  boy, 
an  invitation  to  stay  to  dinner  was  never  neglected  nor  was 
it  ever  declined.19 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  two  seminaries  were  sus- 
pended for  some  time  on  account  of  lack  of  funds,  sixty-two 
young  women  had  graduated  from  the  girls'  school  before  the 
Civil  War,  and  gone  out  to  teach  in  the  public  schools  or  to 
take  their  places  as  heads  of  their  own  households.  Perhaps 
a  somewhat  smaller  number  of  young  men  had  finished  their 
training  at  the  Male  Seminary  to  take  prominent  places  in 
politics,  education  and  the  ministry.  In  addition  to  these  young 
men  and  women  educated  at  home,  a  good  many  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  more  well-to-do,  sent  east  by  their  parents, 
were  carrying  off  honors  at  such  colleges  as  Princeton  and 
Mt.  Holyoke  and  coming  home  to  take  places  of  honor  and 
usefulness  among  their  people  as  doctors,  lawyers,  law  makers 
and  teachers. 

18  Mrs.  Eliza  Alberty  of  Tahlequah,  Oklahoma,  "Aunt  Eliza",  who  was 
one  of  these  little  girls,  furnished  this  description. 

19  Rev.  Joe  Thompson  who  was  a  student  at  the  Male  Seminary  in  these 
early  days  has  many  interesting  reminiscences  of  this  time. 


Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development  171 

The  printing  press  seized  in  Georgia  had  never  been  re- 
turned, nor  was  it  paid  for  when,  in  1843,  the  Council  passed 
an  act  authorizing  the  publication  of  a  paper  to  be  called  the 
Cherokee  Advocate  which  was  to  have  for  its  object  the  infor- 
mation and  encouragement  of  the  tribe  in  agriculture,  educa- 
tion, and  religion.  W.  P.  Ross,  a  nephew  of  the  chief,  who  had 
graduated  at  Princeton  at  the  head  of  his  class,  was  made 
editor.  The  first  number  of  the  paper  appeared  in  September, 
1844. 

Added  to  the  political  troubles  which  distressed  the  Cherokee 
Nation  in  the  west  there  was  threatened  trouble  with  the 
Osages  whose  title  to  the  western  part  of  the  Cherokee  Nation 
had  never  been  satisfactorily  adjusted  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment when  it  was  ceded  to  the  Cherokees.  Other  wild  tribes  in 
the  west  were  restless  and  discontented  for  fear  of  encroach- 
ment on  their  territory.  Their  menacing  attitude  at  length 
came  to  be  regarded  with  no  little  concern  by  the  Cherokees, 
and  in  order  to  allay  uneasiness  and  establish  friendly  rela- 
tions with  them  they  decided  to  arrange  a  grand  intertribal 
council  where  a  definite  understanding  among  them  all  might 
be  reached.  Accordingly  runners  were  sent  to  all  the  tribes 
between  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  in- 
viting them  to  send  deputations  to  a  meeting  to  be  held  at 
Tahlequah  in  June,  1843. 

The  invitation  met  with  ready  response.  At  the  appointed 
time  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Osages,  Cheyennes,  Kiawas, 
Comanches,  Wichitas  and  other  wild  tribes  of  the  plains20  to- 
gether with  representatives  of  the  civilized  Creeks  and  Semi- 
noles  began  to  arrive.  The  meeting  proved  to  be  literally  a 
gathering  of  the  clans.  Such  an  assemblage  of  wild  Indians, 
in  all  the  regalia  of  war  paint  and  feathers,  beaded  buckskin 
and  bright  hued  blankets,  with  civilized  aborigines  wearing  the 
conventional  costume  of  the  American  citizen  had  never  been 
witnessed  before  and  may  never  occur  again. 

The  conference  lasted  ten  days,  during  which  time  the 
visitors  were  given  a  taste  of  real  Cherokee  hospitality.     Bar- 

20  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  were  not  represented  in  the  meeting. 


172  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

becued  beef,  conutche,21  conohany,22  "dog  ears" 23  and  other  In- 
dian substantial  and  dainties  were  served  bountifully  and  freely 
to  all.  They  played  Indian  games,  smoked  the  peace  pipe  and 
listened  to  the  interpretation  of  the  wampum  as  rendered  by  the 
aged  Chief  Lowrey,  the  only  man  then  living  who  understood 
its  mysteries.  Finally  the  various  tribes  entered  into  compacts 
of  eternal  peace  and  friendship,  which,  be  it  said  to  their  credit, 
they  have  never  broken.  Then,  well  pleased  with  their  enter- 
tainment, themselves  and  their  hosts,  they  mounted  their  ponies 
and  in  single  file  rode  solemnly  back  to  their  people.  There 
was  no  further  rumor  of  war  in  the  land,  nor  were  Cherokee 
hunting  and  trading  parties,  which  frequently  made  expeditions 
to  the  plains,  ever  molested  by  Indians.24 

So  strong  was  his  hold  upon  the  full-blood  element  that  Mr. 
Ross's  popularity  did  not  seem  to  wane  as  the  years  went  by, 
even  when  the  government  grew  to  be  autocratic  and  imperial 
rather  than  republican  and  democratic.  The  principal  ap- 
pointive offices  were  invariably  filled  with  his  personal  friends 
or  more  often  with  his  own  relatives.  Charges  were  made  that 
he  was  using  the  chieftainship  for  personal  aggrandizement 
and  private  gain  and  his  friends  and  relatives  were  profiting 
by  his  patronage.  There  were  doubtless  some  elements  of 
truth  in  these  accusations,  but  the  party  of  the  opposition  was 
never  able  to  prove  them  to  his  constituents  nor  to  oust  him 
from  his  position.  Had  it  been  able  to  do  so  there  is  grave 
doubt  whether  another  man  of  the  tribe  before  the  Civil  War 
had  the  ability,  the  training  and  the  experience  that  would  have 
made  him  equal  to  the  emergencies  that  were  constantly  arising 
in  the  nation.  Through  long  years  of  public  life  he  had  not 
only  gained  experience  and  training,  but  had  proved  himself  re- 
sourceful, and  systematic  in  discharging  his  public  duties,  dip- 
lomatic in  his  relations  with  the  Federal  Government,  resolute 

21 A  drink  made  by  boiling  pounded  nutmeats. 

23  A  preparation  of  Indian  corn. 

88  Made  of  grated  green  corn  rolled  in  corn  husks  and  roasted  in  the 
ashes. 

24  Information  on  this  intertribal  council  was  furnished  by  D.  W.  Lipe 
of  Claremore,  Oklahoma,  who  for  many  years  held  responsible  positions 
under  the  Cherokee  government  and  is  well  informed  on  all  points  of  their 
history.    Ross,  Mrs.  W.  P.,  The  Life  and  Times  of  W.  P.  Boss. 


Two  Decades  of  Economic  Development  173 

and  undeviating  in  pursuing  a  definite  fixed  policy  of  national 
advancement  in  politics  and  education.  If  he  sought  to  satisfy 
personal  ambitions  he  also  cherished  a  national  pride,  and  with 
a  broader  and  far  more  subtle  vision  than  his  fellows,  looked  to 
the  future,  still  cherishing  the  dream  of  his  young  manhood  to 
make  the  Cherokees  the  greatest  nation  of  civilized  Indians.  It 
is  doubtless  due  to  this  ambition  and  to  his  leadership  that  the 
tribe  did  not  disintegrate  into  petty  bands  soon  to  fall  the 
prey  of  land  grabbers  from  the  States. 

Plagued  by  droughts  which  destroyed  their  crops  in  1854 
and  again  four  years  later,  hindered  by  internal  disorders'  and 
factional  hatred,  and  embarrassed  by  the  policy  of  the  Federal 
Government  the  Cherokees  nevertheless  made  slow,  steady 
progress  so  that  their  agent  was  able  to  say  of  them  a  few 
months  before  they  were  overtaken  by  the  Civil  War  that: 
"From  their  general  mode  of  living  the  Cherokees  will  favorably 
compare  with  their  neighbors  in  any  of  the  States."25  Their 
population  was  estimated  at  twenty-one  thousand  native  Chero- 
kees, one  thousand  whites  and  four  thousand  negroes.  They 
owned  large  numbers  of  cattle,  hogs,  horses  and  sheep  and  had 
in  cultivation  about  one  hundred  and  two  thousand  acres  of 
land  from  which  they  raised  abundant  crops  of  wheat,  oats  and 
corn  when  the  season  was  favorable.26 

The  twenty  years  between  1840  and  1860  form  a  period  of 

transition  when  the  Cherokees  were  thrown  completely  upon 

their  own  resources  and  the  help  of  the  missionaries  for  their 

development  and  advancement.     But  they  had  at  last  secured 

an  independent  existence  and  were  at  liberty  to  work  out,  un- 

trammeled  by  state  interference,  their  tribal  salvation.     The 

measure  of  economic  success  they  achieved  in  the  face  of  great 

odds   is   due   to   their   individual   efforts ;    the   credit    of   their 

national  policy  as  worked  out  in  the  public  and  high  schools 

and  in  the  government  belongs  largely  to  such  men  of  their  own 

tribe  as  H.  D.  Reese,  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools,  William 

Shorey  Coody  and  the  Vanns  of  whom  mention  has  been  made, 

together  with  a  number  of  other  strong  and  able  men  in  some  of 

whose  veins  ran  no  drop  of  white  blood. 

26  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1859,  p.  173. 
*  Ibid. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
The  Civil  War 

Before  the  Cherokees  had  fairly  entered  upon  the  high  road 
to  progress  and  national  unity,  mutterings  of  the  approaching 
Civil  War  began  to  be  heard  even  in  this  remote  region.  The 
excitement  and  bitterness  involved  in  the  issues  of  the  presiden- 
tial election  of  1860  ran  like  an  electric  current  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  Indian  Territory  arousing  the  keenest 
interest  among  the  entire  population  within  its  boundaries, 
but  particularly  among  the  citizens  of  the  five  great  civilized 
tribes,  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Creeks,  Seminoles  and  Chero- 
kees. They  had  all  been  removed  from  the  southeast  under 
circumstances  similar  to  those  under  which  the  Cherokees  had 
been  removed.  All  of  them  had  just  emerged  from  the  eco- 
nomic and  political  chaos  into  which  they  had  been  thrown  by 
removal,  and  begun  to  acquire,  in  the  face  of  the  greatest 
difficulties,  many  of  the  arts  and  much  of  the  science  of  civi- 
lization. They  were  fairly  prosperous,  contented  and  on  good 
terms  with  the  Federal  Government  whose  treaties  bound  it 
to  protect  them  from  any  foreign  aggression. 

All  of  the  tribes  were  slaveholders  and  had  borrowed  many 
of  their  other  institutions,  both  domestic  and  social,  from  south 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Many  of  their  citizens,  too,  were 
bound  to  the  South  by  ties  of  blood  and  marriage.  All  of  these 
influences  tended  to  strengthen  the  sympathy  of  the  Indians 
for  the  South  and  their  interest  in  the  cause  of  slavery. 

Indian  superintendents  and  agents  in  the  Indian  Territory 
had  almost  all  been  southern  and  pro-slavery.  Firmly  be- 
lieving in  the  institution  as  of  divine  origin  and  as  an  economic 
blessing  to  both  master  and  slave  they  were  intolerant  of  abo- 
lition sentiments  to  the  point  of  forbidding  the  teaching  of 
them  among  the  Indians.  Missionaries  and  school  teachers  who 
were  especially  zealous  in  the  dissemination  of  anti-slavery  doc- 
trines were  summarily  sent  from  the  country.  One  of  them, 
Reverend  John  B.  Jones,  a  Baptist  missionary,  who  had  de- 
voted much  of  his  life  to  work  among  the  Indians  was  warned 


The  Civil  War  175 

by  the  agent  in  September,  1860,  to  leave  the  country  within 
three  weeks  because  of  an  article  published  in  a  Northern  paper 
stating  that  he  was  engaged  in  promulgating  anti-slavery  doc- 
trines among  his  flock.  Others  were  also  compelled  to  leave 
and  the  excitement  aroused  by  these  incidents  continued  to 
increase  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war  and  the  beginning  of 
actual  hostilities. 

With  the  excitement  incident  to  the  election  of  1860  the  old 
factional  spirit  among  the  Cherokees  blazed  up  with  all  its 
original  fervor.  Leaders  of  the  Treaty  party  and  the  Old 
Settlers  lined  up  with  the  pro-slavery  people  and  organized 
themselves  into  secret  societies  called  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle,  while  the  loyally  inclined  members  of  the  tribe  combined 
into  an  old  organization  known  as  the  Kituwha,  an  ancient 
order  revived  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  the  pro-slavery  ad- 
herents, The  Kituwahs,  who  were  chiefly  full-bloods,  came  to 
be  called  Pin  Indians  from  a  pin  which  they  wore  as  a  distin- 
guishing badge  in  a  certain  position  on  the  lapel  of  the  coat  or 
hunting  shirt.1  The  Knights  drew  to  themselves  the  majority 
of  the  slaveholders  besides  the  restless  element  who  welcomed 
any  change  in  the  hope  of  bettering  their  fortunes,  paying  off 
old  scores  or  getting  rid  of  the  Ross  regime.  This  lining  up  of 
the  tribe  on  the  eve  of  the  Great  Rebellion  into  two  opposing 
parties  based  on  long-standing  feuds,  augured  ill  for  a  com- 
munity which  had  so  recently  been  restored  to  a  semblance  of 
national  unity.  The  election  of  Lincoln  and  the  secession  of 
South  Carolina  were  followed  by  the  Cherokee  Nation  with  as 
keen  interest  as  by  any  other  section  in  the  Union,  each  fac- 
tion determined  to  make  the  nation  serve  its  interests  in  the 
impending  conflict. 

In  the  excitement  and  confusion  in  Washington  during  the 
early  months  of  the  struggle  the  importance  to  the  Union  of 
holding  the  loyalty  of  Indian  Territory  seems  to  have  been  un- 
derestimated, while  the  government  showed  a  strange  lack  of 

1  The  Cherokee  Question,  Pamphlet  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of 
Indian  A  fairs  to  the  President  of  the  United  Statec,  June  15,  1866,  p.  26; 
Philadelphia  North  American,  Jan.  24,  1862,  Letter  of  S.  W.  Butler;  Royce, 
Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians,  p.  325. 


176  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

conscience  towards  its  treaty  obligations  to  the  Indians.  With 
the  South  it  was  a  different  story.  From  the  very  outset  of 
the  trouble,  even  before  the  organization  of  the  Confederacy, 
preliminary  steps  were  taken  to  secure  the  sympathy  and  co- 
operation of  the  tribes  of  the  southwest.  Federal  agents  of 
the  Five  Tribes  and  Elias  Rector,  the  head  of  the  Southern 
Superintendency,  began  in  the  early  winter  to  take  an  active 
part  in  fortifying  the  minds  of  the  Indians  against  the  in- 
coming administration  and  arousing  sympathy  for  the  southern 
cause.  Douglas  M.  Cooper,  agent  of  the  Choctaws  and  Chick- 
asaws  and  an  appointee  of  Buchanan,  took  advantage  of  the 
remoteness  of  his  situation  to  work  openly  for  secession. 

As  a  result  the  Chickasaw  legislature  on  January  5  went  so 
far  as  to  call  an  intertribal  council  should  a  political  separa- 
tion between  the  North  and  the  South  take  place.2  The  sug- 
gestion met  with  favor  from  all  the  Five  Tribes  except  the 
Cherokees.  Chief  Ross  objected  to  the  plan  on  the  ground  that 
the  controversy  between  the  North  and  South  was  strictly  a 
white  man's  quarrel  and  no  concern  of  the  Indians.  He  was 
overruled,  however,  and  a  council  was  called  for  February  17. 
The  Choctaw  Council,  influenced  by  Cooper,  without  waiting  to 
see  what  its  neighbors  would  do,  came  out  boldly  on  Feb- 
ruary 7  for  the  Confederacy  on  the  ground  that  their  national 
affections,  education  and  interests  bound  them  indissolubly  in 
every  way  to  the  destiny  of  their  neighbors  of  the  South.3 
When  the  intertribal  council  met  ten  days  later  at  the  Creek 
Agency  neither  the  Choctaws  nor  Chickasaws  were  represented. 
The  Cherokee,  Creek  and  Seminole  delegations  discussed  the 
situation  at  length  and  arrived  at  the  conclusion  to  simply  do 
nothing;  to  keep  quiet  and  comply  with  their  treaty  obliga- 
tions. Mutual  expressions  of  good  feeling  were  given  and 
promises  exchanged  that  whatever  exigencies  of  the  future 
might  arise,  bound  by  a  common  destiny,  they  would  act  in 
concert  for  the  greatest  good  to  all.4 

*  Official  Records  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  I,  p.  682; 
Abel,  The  Cherokees  in  the  Civil  War,  American  Historical  Review,  Vol. 
XV,  p.  282. 

3  Ibid.  This  was  the  very  day  the  southern  Senators  in  Washington 
adopted  resolutions  advising  secession. 

4 Ibid;    Abel,  A.  H. 


The  Civil  War  177 

This  action  of  the  Indian  tribes  was  watched  with  the 
keenest  interest  by  Arkansas,  no  part  of  the  South  being  more 
vitally  concerned  in  their  attitude  at  this  crisis.  The  Cherokee 
and  Choctaw  Nations  hemmed  in  her  whole  western  border, 
even  encroaching,  in  the  opinion  of  that  state,  upon  her  right- 
ful domain.  The  action  of  the  Choctaws  had  been  gratifying. 
Cooperation  of  the  Cherokees  must  be  secured  at  all  hazards. 

More  than  three  months  before  the  state  seceded,  Governor 
Rector  wrote  Chief  Ross  a  very  ingratiating  letter  calling  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  Cherokees  in  their  institutions, 
productions,  latitude  and  natural  sympathies  were  allied  to 
the  common  brotherhood  of  slaveholding  states,  and  assuring 
him  that  it  was  an  established  fact  that  the  Indian  country  was 
looked  upon  by  the  incoming  administration  "as  a  fruitful  field 
ripe  for  the  harvest  of  Abolitionists,  free-soilers  and  northern 
mountebanks".  He  promised  to  give  the  Cherokees  protection 
in  their  exposed  condition  and  to  assume  the  monetary  obli- 
gations of  the  Federal  Government  to  them  if  they  would  join 
the  South  in  the  defense  of  her  firesides,  her  honor,  and  her 
institutions.5 

Mr.  Ross  replied  in  a  masterly  letter  expressing  the  regret 
and  the  solicitude  of  the  Cherokees  for  the  unhappy  relations 
existing  between  the  two  sections  of  the  country  and  hoping 
for  the  restoration  of  peace  and  harmony,  at  the  same  time 
declaring,  in  no  uncertain  terms,  the  loyalty  of  his  people  to 
the  Federal  Government.  The  Cherokees,  he  reasoned,  had 
placed  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  United  States 
and  were  bound  to  enter  into  no  treaty  with  any  foreign  power, 
neither  with  any  individual  nor  citizen  of  any  state.  The  faith 
of  the  United  States  was  solemnly  pledged  to  protect  them 
in  their  land  titles  and  all  their  individual  rights  and  interests 
of  person  and  property.  The  Cherokees  were  inviolably  allied 
with  the  United  States  in  war  and  were  friends  in  peace.  While 
their  institutions,  locality  and  natural  sympathy  were  un- 
equivocally with  the  slaveholding  states  and  the  social  and  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  Arkansas 

6  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  1,  Vol.  13,  pp.  490-92;  Vol.  1, 
p.  683;    also,  Moore's  Rebellion  Records,  Vol.  2,  Doc.  114. 


178  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

were  of  great  importance  to  his  people  these  interests  must  be 
subordinated  to  the  higher  one  of  his  nation's  honor.6 

Not  satisfied  with  this  reply,  citizens  of  western  Arkansas 
and  the  commandant  at  Fort  Smith  brought  strong  pressure 
to  bear  upon  the  chief  demanding  to  know  on  what  ground  he 
stood,  as  they  preferred  an  open  enemy  to  a  doubtful  friend.7 
To  them  he  replied  that  the  Cherokees  would  take  no  part  in 
the  trouble.  Weak,  defenseless  and  scattered  over  a  large  sec- 
tion of  country  in  the  pursuit  of  agricultural  life,  without 
hostility  to  any  state,  and  with  friendly  feeling  to  all,  they 
hoped  to  be  allowed  to  remain  neutral,  for  persons  so  gallantly 
tenacious  of  their  own  rights  would  respect  those  of  others. 
Being  fully  aware  of  the  defenseless  condition  of  the  Cherokees 
their  friends  would  surely  not  expect  them  to  destroy  their 
national  and  individual  rights  and  bring  around  their  hearth- 
stones the  horrors  and  desolation  of  a  civil  war  prematurely 
and  unnecessarily.  "I  am — the  Cherokees  are  your  friends" 
he  assured  them,  "but  we  do  not  wish  to  be  brought  into  the 
feud  between  yourselves  and  your  northern  brethren.  Our 
wish  is  for  peace — peace  with  you  and  peace  at  home"8  But 
the  old  chief  was  crying  "peace,  peace !"  when  there  was  no 
peace. 

The  Confederate  Provisional  Congress,  doubtless  urged  on 
by  Arkansas  and  Texas,  and  appreciating  the  strategic  po- 
sition of  Indian  Territory  in  relation  to  Colorado  and  Kansas 
and  its  importance  as  a  source  of  food  supply,9  created  a 
Bureau  of  Indian  Affairs  as  early  as  the  middle  of  March,  with 
an  appropriation  of  $5,000  for  its  support,  and  attached  it 
to  the  War  Department.  David  L.  Hubbard  of  Alabama  was 
placed  at  the  head  with  instruction  to  repair  immediately  to 
the  Indian  country  where  he  would  make  known  to  all  the 
tribes  the  desire  of  the  Confederate  states  to  protect  and  de- 
fend them  against  the  rapacious  and  avaricious  designs  of  their 

6  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  1,  Vol.  1,  p.  683;  Moore's 
Rebellion  Records,  Vol.  2,  p.  392. 

7  Moore's  Rebellion  Records,  Vol.  2,  p.  393. 

8  Ibid,  pp.  393-4. 

9  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  8,  p.  697. 


The  Civil  War  179 

common  enemy  whose  real  intention  was  to  emancipate  their 
slaves  and  rob  them  of  their  lands.10 

Illness  prevented  Mr.  Hubbard  from  carrying  out  his  inten- 
tion of  going  in  person  to  the  Indian  Territory  but  he  wrote 
to  Chief  Ross,  and  in  addition  to  his  instructions  reminded  him 
that  nearly  all  the  funds  of  the  Cherokees,  representing  their 
annuities  and  school  funds,  were  invested  in  southern  securities 
which  debts  were  already  forfeited  unless  the  Cherokees  joined 
the  Confederacy. 

To  this  Chief  Ross  replied  in  most  dignified  and  courteous 
language,  repeating  his  reasons  for  holding  a  position  of  neu- 
trality, and  assuring  Mr.  Hubbard  that,  if  the  institutions, 
locality  and  long  years  of  neighborly  deportment  and  inter- 
course did  not  suffice  to  assure  him  of  the  friendship  of  the 
Cherokees  no  mere  instrument  of  mere  parchment  could  do 
so.  "We  have  no  cause  to  doubt  the  entire  good  faith  with 
which  you  would  treat  the  Cherokee  people,  but  neither  have 
we  any  cause  to  make  war  against  the  United  States,  or  to 
believe  that  our  treaties  will  not  be  fulfilled  and  respected.  At 
all  events  a  decent  regard  to  good  faith  demands  that  we  should 
not  be  the  first  to  violate  them."  It  was  not  the  business  of  the 
Cherokees,  he  thought,  to  determine  the  character  of  the  con- 
flict going  on  in  the  states.  It  was  their  duty  to  keep  them- 
selves free  from  entanglements  and  afford  no  ground  to  either 
party  to  interfere  with  their  rights. 

As  to  the  question  of  whether  the  Cherokees  would  re- 
ceive kinder  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  South  than  could 
be  expected  from  the  North,  he  remarked  significantly,  that  the 
settled  policy  of  acquiring  Indian  lands  had  always  been  a 
favorite  one  with  both  sections,  and  but  few  Indians  north  or 
south  pressed  their  feet  upon  the  soil  of  their  fathers.11 

Meanwhile  two  events  had  taken  place  destined  to  have  im- 
portant bearing  upon  Cherokee  neutrality.  In  April  all  the 
Federal  troops  were  withdrawn  from  Indian  Territory  and  it 
was  immediately  occupied  by  the  Confederacy  and  formed  into 
the  Military  District  of  Indian  Territory,  with  the  brave  Texas 

10  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  3,  p.  577. 

11  Ibid,  Vol.  13,  499. 


180  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Ranger,  Benjamin  F.  McCulloch,  in  command.  With  a  regi- 
ment from  each  of  the  states,  Arkansas,  Louisiana  and  Texas, 
and  with  instructions  to  raise  additional  regiments  among  the 
Five  Tribes  to  be  attached  to  his  command,  he  prepared  to 
establish  headquarters  at  some  suitable  place  in  the  Cherokee 
Nation.12 

The  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  in  full  sympathy  with 
the  plan,  decided  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  them  to  lend  a 
hand.  Realizing  the  weakness  of  their  numbers  they  determined 
upon  a  strategic  move  to  raise  the  rebel  flag  over  the  capitol 
at  Tahlequah,  guarding  their  intentions  with  the  greatest 
secrecy.13  Great  was  their  discomfiture,  therefore,  when  they 
arrived  on  the  appointed  day  to  find  the  flinty  streets  of  the 
little  town  filled  with  stonier  faced  full-bloods,  gathered  from 
all  parts  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  for  the  purpose  of  checkmat- 
ing them. 

Baffled  and  outwitted  and  fearing  violence  from  the  de- 
termined Kituwhas  the  Knights  posted  a  messenger  after  Mr. 
Ross  at  Park  Hill,  who  was  ignorant  of  what  was  on  foot  five 
miles  away.  Accompanied  by  Mrs.  Ross,  a  loyal  Union  sym- 
pathizer, he  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action.  There  the  Knights 
plied  him  with  arguments  and  persuasions,  but  all  to  no  effect. 
The  people  presently  dispersed  quietly  to  their  homes,14  but  not 
to  the  waving  of  the  "Stars  and  Bars",  nor  to  the  music  of 
the  "Bonnie  Blue  Flag". 

Chief  Ross,  fearing  the  demoralizing  effect  upon  the  tribe 
of  the  Tahlequah  incident  and  the  plan  for  establishing  Confed- 
erate headquarters  in  the  Cherokee  Nation,  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, on  May  IT,  counseling  the  people  to  cultivate  peace  and 
harmony  among  themselves  and  to  observe  in  good  faith  strict 
neutrality  towards  the  states  threatening  Civil  War.15 

Disappointed  in  the  failure  of  the  Knights  and  finding  his 
own  scheme  firmly  opposed  by  Chief  Ross,  whom  he  was  as  yet 
unwilling  to  antagonize,  General  McCulloch  changed  his  plans 

13  Abel,  The  Indians  in  the  Civil  War,  p.  284. 

13  Letter  of  S.  W.  Butler,  Philadelphia  North  American,  Jan.  24,  1863. 
"Ibid.     The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  26;    Royce,   The  Cherokee  Nation 
of  Indians,  p.  325. 

15  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  13,  p.  489. 


The  Civil  War  181 

and  began  mustering  his  forces  at  Fort  Smith,  just  over  the 
Arkansas  line.16  Determined,  however,  that  the  Cherokees 
should  eventually  fight  with  the  Confederacy,  he  was  only  biding 
his  time. 

It  was  at  this  period  in  the  crisis  that  the  picturesque 
figure  of  Albert  Pike  appeared  upon  the  Indian  horizon.  He 
was  a  Bostonian  by  birth,  had  studied  law  at  Harvard  and 
taught  school  in  New  England.  Responding  to  the  call  of  the 
west  in  early  manhood  he  joined  Bent's  expedition  to  Santa  Fe 
in  1832  and  spent  a  few  months  in  New  Mexico.  Returning  by 
way  of  Fort  Smith  he  determined  to  settle  in  Arkansas.  Here 
he  taught  school,  practiced  law  and  engaged  in  literary  pur- 
suits. Acquaintance  with  the  Indians  aroused  a  genuine 
interest  in  the  wrongs  they  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  own 
race,  and  he  became  the  avowed  friend  and  advocate  of  the  red 
man.  When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  he  declared  for  secession 
and  offered  his  services  to  the  Confederacy  in  effecting  alliance 
with  the  tribes  of  the  southwest.17  The  Confederacy  promptly 
recognized  that  there  were  none  better  fitted  for  this  task  by 
commissioning  him  to  negotiate  treaties  of  friendship  and  alli- 
ance with  the  nations  of  Indian  Territory. 

As  his  mission  was  one  that  required  promptness  he  set  out 
at  once,  stopping  on  the  wa}r  for  an  interview  with  General 
McCulloch  at  Fort  Smith.  Here  a  party  of  Cherokees  repre- 
senting the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  called  upon  him  to  find 
out  whether  the  Confederate  states  would  protect  them  against 
Mr.  Ross  and  the  Fin  Indians  if  they  should  organize  and  take 
up  arms  for  the  South.18 

He  assured  them  of  Confederate  protection  and  arranged 
a  meeting  with  them  and  their  friends  at  the  Creek  Agency  two 
days  after  a  conference  which  he  expected  to  have  with  Chief 
Ross  and  General  McCulloch  at  Park  Hill.19  Attended  by  a 
mounted  escort  in  all  the  splendor  of  uniform  and  military 
trappings  he  then  set  out  for  Indian  Territory.     As  the  caval- 

18  Snead,  The  Fight  for  Missouri,  p.  230. 

1T  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  2,  pp.  580-581;  Abel, 
Indians  in  the  Civil  War,  p.  285. 

18  The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  26. 
» Ibid. 


182  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

cade  swept  down  the  Line  Road  to  Evansville  and  on  towards 
the  Cherokee  capital  its  magnificent  appearance  was  well 
designed  to  impress  the  simple  natives  with  the  greatness  of  the 
government  which  it  represented.  There  are  men  and  women 
still  living  who  remember  the  occasion  as  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting and  dramatic  episodes  of  the  war  in  that  part  of  the 
country. 

Arriving  at  Park  Hill  somewhat  in  advance  of  his  attend- 
ants, General  Pike  was  received  by  the  chief  with  his  accus- 
tomed hospitality  and  irreproachable  courtesy.  Here  General 
McCulloch  presently  joined  him  and  negotiations  for  a  treaty 
of  alliance  were  formally  opened.  Chief  Ross  took  a  firm  stand, 
repeating  his  determination  to  remain  neutral  and  his  argument 
that  it  would  be  a  cruel  thing  for  the  Confederacy  to  force  a 
weak  and  defenseless  people  into  a  quarrel  not  their  own. 
While  frankly  admitting  that  all  their  sentiments  and  feelings 
were  on  the  side  of  the  South  he  declared  that  he  could  not 
permit  his  people  to  become  involved  in  any  way  if  he  could 
prevent  it.  They  were  unable  to  shake  the  purpose  of  the  old 
Chief  by  force  of  argument  or  diplomatic  strategy,  and  the 
conference  came  to  a  close  with  the  promise  of  General  McCul- 
loch to  respect  the  neutrality  of  the  Cherokees  and  to  refrain 
from  placing  troops  in  their  nation  unless  it  became  necessary 
in  order  to  expel  a  Federal  force  or  to  protect  the  Southern 
Cherokees.20 

Perhaps  General  McCulloch  made  the  promise  in  good  faith. 
A  few  days  later  he  wrote  Mr.  Ross  again  assuring  him  of  his 
intention  of  respecting  the  agreement  of  neutrality,  but  now 
insisting  tha,t  all  Cherokees  who  were  in  favor  of  joining  the 
Confederacy  should  be  allowed  to  organize  into  military  com- 
panies as  Home  Guards  for  the  purpose  of  defending  themselves 
in  case  of  an  invasion  from  the  North.21 

Mr.  Ross,  too  keen  to  be  drawn  into  a  scheme  which  would 
virtually  commit  him  to  the  Confederacy  without  any  of  the 
advantages  of  a  formal  treaty,  replied  that  he  could  not  give 
his  consent  to  such  a  plan.     It  would  not  only  violate  Cherokee 

20  The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  26. 

21  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  3,  p.  592. 


The  Civil  War  183 

neutrality  but  would  place  in  their  midst  a  band  of  organized 
and  armed  men  not  authorized  by  Cherokee  laws  and  not  amen- 
able to  them.22 

Out  of  patience  with  what  he  considered  the  irritating 
obstinancy  of  Mr.  Ross,  General  McCulloch  began  collecting 
troops  at  Sculleyville,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Choctaw 
Nation  near  the  Cherokee  line,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
intimidating  the  loyal  Cherokees  and  forcing  Chief  Ross  into 
abandoning  his  position  of  neutralty. 

General  Pike  on  leaving  Park  Hill  pressed  on  to  the  Creek 
Agency  where  he  had  expected  to  meet  and  arrange  terms  with 
the  southern  faction  of  the  Cherokees.  To  his  disappointment 
they  failed  to  appear23  and  he  passed  on  to  the  west  where  he 
busied  himself  in  arranging  treaties  with  the  Choctaw  and 
Chickasaw  Nations  and  with  various  bands  of  western  Indians. 
The  former,  after  signing  treaties,  availed  themselves  of  the 
privilege  of  sending  delegates  to  Richmond,  and  issued  a  proc- 
lamation to  the  neighboring  nations  urging  them  to  form  an 
alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  against  Lincoln's  hordes 
and  Kansas  robbers."24 

As  the  Confederate  Commissioner  made  his  way  westward 
arranging  treaties  with  the  Indians,  and  as  the  marshaling  of 
forces  on  the  borders  went  foward  with  vigor,  the  position  of 
the  Cherokees  grew  daily  more  precarious.  The  Creeks  and 
the  majority  of  the  Seminoles  still  remained  faithful  to  their 
agreement  of  the  previous  winter,  but  the  Federal  Government 
showed  no  intention  of  sending  them  relief  and  protection. 

Realizing  that  something  must  be  done  quickly,  Chief  Ross, 
with  the  support  of  Hopothleyohola,  leader  of  the  loyal  Creeks, 
sent  out  a  call  for  an  intertribal  council  to  be  held  near 
Antelope  Hills,  in  the  extreme  western  part  of  Indian  Terri- 
tory. The  purpose  was  to  weld  the  western  tribes  into  an 
independent  Indian  Confederacy  with  strength  enough  to  com- 
mand respectful  attention  from  both  sections  before  General 

22  Ibid,  pp.  596-7. 

28  Afterwards  they  gave  as  their  reason  the  fear  that  they  would  be 
murdered  by  the  Ross  party  if  they  openly  sided  with  the  South.  The 
Cherokee  Question,  p.  25. 

"Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  13,  pp.  585-7. 


184  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Pike  could  arrange  treaties  with  them.  The  Council  was  held 
and  the  representatives  entered  willingly  into  the  proposed 
compact,  but  the  ultimate  purpose  of  the  plan  was  defeated  by 
General  Pike,  who,  having  received  intimation  of  it,  succeeded 
in  securing  an  agreement  with  a  faction  of  the  Creeks  while 
their  representatives  were  in  council  at  Antelope  Hills.25 

The  failure  of  the  Indian  Confederacy,  the  neglect  of  the 
loyal  Indians  by  the  Federal  Government  and  the  concentration 
of  Confederate  forces  on  their  border  had  caused  the  loyal 
Cherokees  keen  disappointment  and  alarm.  Then  came  news 
of  the  Battle  of  Wilson  Creek,  with  an  exaggerated  account  of 
the  discomfiture  of  Union  forces.  McCulloch's  army  was 
marched  back  to  the  borders  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  the 
Cherokees  were  compelled  to  decide  promptly  whether  they 
would  take  up  arms  for  the  North  or  the  South. 

Faced  with  this  situation  Chief  Ross  called  his  Council 
together  August  21,  1861,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  question  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  surround- 
ing their  nation  and  to  determine  the  most  available  method 
of  procedure.  As  it  was  a  question  of  vital  interest  to  the  whole 
tribe  a  call  was  sent  summoning  everyone  to  a  conference  at 
Tahlequah.  The  situation  was  so  critical  and  the  tension  of 
feeling  so  highly  strung  that  a  large  per  cent  of  the  voting 
population  responded.  On  the  appointed  day  about  four  thou- 
sand Cherokee  men  were  assembled  on  the  capitol  square.  The 
southern  party,  seeing  their  opportunity,  and  encouraged  by 
citizens  of  Arkansas,  turned  out  in  full  force  and  full  arms.  By 
their  firmness  of  speech  and  domineering  manner  they  awed 
into  silence  and  nonresistance  any  spirit  of  neutrality  which 
yet  manifested  itself.  Agent  Crawford  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  meeting,  painting  in  glowing  colors,  the  advantages  of 
secession  to  the  tribe.20 

Chief  Ross  in  his  message  to  the  Council,  after  having 
justified  his  previous  policy  of  neutrality  on  the  ground  of  good 
faith  and  expediency,  declared  that  the  Cherokees  had  at  last 
come  to  the  parting  of  the  ways.     Neutrality  was  no  longer 

25  The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  27.  Royce,  The  Cherokee  Nation  of  In- 
dians, p.  327. 

26  Abel,  The  Indians  in  the  Civil  War,  p.  288. 


The  Civil  War  185 

possible.  Since  they  had  been  deserted  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment they  owed  no  further  allegiance  to  it.  There  was  no 
longer  any  reason  to  doubt  that  the  Union  was  dissolved: 
there  was  likewise  no  cause  for  hesitation  as  to  the  course  the 
tribe  should  pursue :  their  geographical  position  and  domestic 
institutions  allied  them,  unquestionably,  to  the  South.27 

It  has  been  charged  that  the  chief  was  forced  into  this 
change  of  sentiment  in  much  the  same  way  the  stamp  distribu- 
tors of  1765  were  compelled  to  stand  before  the  rabble  and 
shout  "liberty,  property  and  no  stamps :"  that  part  of  his 
speech  in  the  excitement  and  heat  of  the  moment  was  miscon- 
strued either  intentionally  or  unintentionally,  and  that  what 
he  intended  for  a  noncommital,  pacifying  address  was  reported 
as  a  fiery  denunciation  of  the  Union. 

That  he  had  just  cause  to  denounce  the  treatment  his 
people  had  received  and  were  receiving  from  the  Union  there 
is  no  question  of  a  doubt,  but  there  are  so  many  conflicting 
versions  of  the  story  even  today  by  those  who  participated  in 
the  meeting,  and  the  documents  contain  such  contradictory 
statements  that  a  positive  conclusion  of  what  he  really  said 
and  did  is  not  easily  reached.28  At  any  rate  the  convention 
unanimously  adopted  a  resolution  to  abandon  the  relations 
with  the,  Federal  Government  and  to  form  an  alliance  with  the 
Confederacy  if  the  latter  would  guarantee  to  them  the  payment 
of  an  amount  equal  to  their  invested  funds. 

A  messenger  was  forthwith  dispatched  to  General  Pike  to 
apprise  him  of  the  action  of  the  Council  and  to  invite  him  to 
return  to  the  Cherokee  Nation  for  the  purpose  of  arranging 
a  treaty  with  their  government.  He  was  met  at  Fort  Gibson 
by  Colonel  Drew's  regiment  of  home  guards  composed  chiefly 
of  full-bloods  and  Pins,  which  had  been  raised  by  order  of  the 
National  Council,  and  conducted  with  some  ceremony  to  Park 
Hill,  where  a  treaty  was  arranged. 

27  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  13,  p.  501.  This  is 
the  report  of  a  message  delivered  to  the  Council  October  9,  in  which  is 
given  a  summary  of  his  message  of  August  21. 

28  The  Cherokee  Question,  Various  reports  and  letters;  The  Ross  cor- 
respondence; The  Proceedings  of  the  Cherokee  National  Council  for  1863; 
Cong.  Doc.  1232,  No.  52. 


186  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

The  third  article  of  the  treaty  states  that  the  Confederate 
States,  having  accepted  a  protectorate  over  the  Cherokee 
Nation,  solemnly  promised  never  to  abandon  or  desert  it,  and 
that  under  no  circumstances  would  they  permit  the  Northern 
States  or  any  other  enemy  to  overcome  them  and  sever  the 
Cherokee  from  the  Confederacy,  but  that  they  would,  at  any 
cost,  and  all  hazards  protect  and  defend  them  and  maintain 
unbroken  the  ties  created  by  identity  of  interests  and  institu- 
tions, and  strengthened  and  made  perpetual  by  this  treaty. 
The  Confederate  states  bound  themselves  to  pay  the  Cherokees 
the  sum  of  $250,000  on  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  to  continue 
the  annuities  they  had  formerly  received  from  the  United  States 
and  to  indemnify  them  for  all  losses  that  they  might  suffer  as 
a  result  of  abrogating  their  treaties  with  the  United  States. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Cherokees  agreed  to  furnish  all  their 
able-bodied  men  to  the  Confederate  States  for  military  service 
against  the  United  States,  with  the  stipulation  that  their 
forces  should  not  be  required  to  march  outside  of  their  own 
country  without  their  consent.29 

On  the  same  day  the  Cherokee  treaty  was  negotiated,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Osages,  Senecas,  Quapaws,  and  Shawnees,  by 
invitation  of  Chief  Ross,  met  General  Pike  at  Park  Hill,  where 
they  also  arranged  treaties  of  alliance  with  the  Confederacy. 
Afterwards  they  held  a  conference  with  Mr.  Ross  at  his  resi- 
dence, smoked  the  great  peace  pipe  and  renewed  their  agree- 
ments of  eternal  peace  and  friendship.30 

Although  the  Cherokees  had  severed  their  relations  with 
the  Federal  Government  very  reluctantly  they  immediately 
began  preparations  to  maintain  their  new  alliance.  The  regi- 
ment of  Home  Guards  under  Colonel  John  Drew  was  now  placed 
at  the  services  of  the  Confederacy,  and  a  second  regiment 
recruited  and  placed  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Stand 
Watie.  Chief  Ross  entered  heartily  and  enthusiastically  into 
the  spirit  of  the  preparations,  entertaining  high  hopes  that 
all  factional  differences  would  disappear  and  that  his  people 
would  become  united  once  more  when  they  joined  forces  to 

29  Confederate  Statutes  at  Large,  pp.  394-411. 
80  The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  28. 


The  Civil  Wae  187 

repel  a  common  enemy.  Just  after  the  signing  of  the  Confed- 
erate treaty  he  had  given  his  hand  to  Stand  Watie  as  an 
expression  of  his  desire  to  heal  the  old  breach,  and  Watie  had 
accepted  it  in  all  courtesy  and  good  faith.  No  one  realized 
more  clearly  than  the  old  chief  that  the  cost  of  war  would  be 
dear  to  his  people  at  any  price.  Yet,  if  the  Cherokees  could 
emerge  from  the  smoke  of  battle  a  united  nation,  the  struggle 
would  not  have  been  without  its  compensations. 


CHAPTER  XX 

The  Civil  War,  Concluded 

As  the  Cherokees  were  the  first  to  violate  the  compact  of 
neutrality  entered  into  with  other  tribes  at  the  Creek  Agency 
in  February  and  at  the  Antelope  Hills  Conference  some  months 
later,  natural  courtesy  and  a  due  regard  to  the  good  will  of 
their  neighbors  rendered  necessary  an  explanation  of  their 
changed  attitude,  consequently  Chief  Ross  sent  a  circular  letter 
to  the  various  tribes  explaining  the  causes  which  impelled  the 
Cherokee  Nation  to  join  the  Confederacy.1  He  even  went  so 
far  as  to  suggest  the  desirability  of  a  union  of  all  the  Red 
Brethren  with  the  Richmond  government.  One  of  these  letters 
was  dispatched  to  Hopothleyohola,  who  had  been  a  very  good 
friend  of  the  Cherokee  chief  and  had  supported  him  loyally  in 
his  stand  for  neutrality.  The  letter  was  returned,  with  a  note 
written  across  the  back,  asking  if  Mr.  Ross  were  really  the 
author  of  it.2 

This  sharp  thrust  at  Cherokee  constancy  was  not  lost  upon 
the  keen  witted  and  diplomatic  Chief  Ross  who  immediately 
sent  a  special  delegation,  headed  by  Joseph  Vann,  the  second 
chief  of  the  nation,  on  a  mission  of  peace  to  the  Creeks  to 
explain  more  fully  the  position  of  the  Cherokees  and  to  invite 
their  chiefs  to  visit  the  Cherokee  Council  then  in  session.3  But 
Hopothleyohola  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  They 
had  broken  a  compact  and  were  not  to  be  trusted  again.  He 
would  go  his  way  and  they  were  free  to  go  theirs.  His  mind 
was  made  up,  for  reasons  of  his  own,  to  remain  loyal  to  the 
Union. 

With  two-thirds  of  his  tribe  in  war  paint  and  fighting  gear 
he  was  preparing  to  defend  its  interests  in  the  Creek  Nation 
at  all  costs.  Not  that  the  old  Creek  chief  was  actuated  by 
such  motives  as  inspired  Webster's  immortal  words,  "liberty 
and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable."     In  fact  he 

1  The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  20,  the  Correspondence  between  Chief  Ross 
and  Hopothleyohola  is  found  in  full,  pp.  16-20. 

2  Ibid,  p.  17. 
8  Ibid. 


The  Civil  War  189 

did  not  understand  American  patriotism.  How  could  he,  or 
the  members  of  his  tribe  or  of  any  of  the  Indian  tribes?  Indian 
Territory  was  not  an  integral  part  of  the  Union  as  was  Texas 
or  Arkansas,  but  was  practically  a  foreign  dependent  ally.  Its 
citizens  were  a  people  apart  from  the  Federal  Government  with 
a  patriotism  all  their  own,  which  took  no  cognizance  of  such 
common  bonds  of  interest  as  the  celebration  of  Thanksgiving 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  had  a  grudge  to  pay 
and  this  occasion  furnished  the  opportunity.  And  who  can 
criticise  the  chief  of  a  recently  barbarous  tribe  for  going  to  war 
with  such  an  incentive  when,  if  the  truth  were  told,  half  of  the 
white  men  on  both  sides  in  the  conflict  were  actuated  by  no 
higher  motives?  If  this  fact  of  the  relation  of  the  Indians  to  the 
Federal  Government  is  kept  clearly  in  mind,  along  with  some 
others  which  must  linger  in  the  memory  of  all  who  have  read 
the  preceding  pages  of  this  story,  it  will  be  less  difficult  to  un- 
derstand why  Indian  loyalty  was  likely  to  shift  from  time  to 
time  with  the  changing  fortunes  of  war. 

But  Hopothleyohola  was  not  one  to  waver  in  his  allegiance. 
With  an  armed  force  he  made  a  raid  upon  his  former  friends, 
the  Cherokees,  driving  off  stock  and  wantonly  destroying  other 
property.4  Then  marshaling  his  forces  in  the  Creek  Nation, 
he  prepared  to  stand  his  ground  against  an  overwhelmingly 
superior  number  of  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Seminoles  and  Cher- 
okees under  Colonel  Cooper.  A  stronghold  was  chosen  and 
intrenchments  thrown  up  in  a  bend  of  the  Bird  Creek  about 
twelve  miles  north  of  Tulsey  town.5  This,  Cooper  prepared  to 
attack  in  December. 

On  the  eve  of  battle  the  Cherokee  troops  under  Colonel 
Drew  deserted  in  a  body,  swearing  that  they  would  willingly 
shoot  Yankees,  but  when  it  came  to  fighting  their  old  friends 
and  neighbors,  the  Creeks,  they  drew  the  line.  Cooper,  with 
his  remaining  forces,  attacked  the  Creeks  and  easily  defeated 
them,  driving  them  into  the  hills  beyond.  Still  pursuing  them, 
he  finally  pushed  them  northward  beyond  the  Kansas  line,  fol- 

4  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  8,  p.  209. 
6  Now  Tulsa.     The  Creeks  seem  to  have  had  a  weakness  for  horseshoe 
bends. 


190  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

lowed  by  a  straggling  train  of  helpless  women  and  children.6 
The  winter  of  1861-2  was  a  bitter  one  for  these  Indian 
refugees.  Loyal  bands  from  the  Five  Tribes,  together  with 
detachments  from  other  tribes  kept  arriving,  until  the  aggre- 
gate numbered  over  six  thousand,  camped  along  the  southern 
border  of  the  state.  Shelterless,  half  naked,  barefooted  and 
nearly  starved,  they  presented  a  sorry  sight.7  All  attempt  of 
the  Federal  authorities  to  relieve  them  resulted  only  in  furnish- 
ing opportunity  for  peculation  to  Government  agents  and 
state  politicians  who  shamelessly  feathered  their  own  nests  at 
the  expense  of  shivering,  shelterless  and  starving  women  and 
children.  There  seemed  no  way  of  relieving  the  situation  as 
long  as  the  Indians  remained  in  Kansas.  The  only  hope  of 
relief  lay  in  their  return  to  Indian  Territory,  now  occupied 
by  Confederate  troops.  Before  the  Indians  could  return  in 
safety  the  country  would  have  to  be  cleared  of  the  enemy  and 
reoccupied  by  Federal  forces,  which  were  so  urgently  needed 
in  other  quarters  just  at  this  time.8 

This  was  the  situation  when  Senator  Lane,  the  originator 
of  the  "homeward  bound"  movement,  went  to  Washington  in 
January,  1862,  and  there  so  convincingly  presented  the  cause 
of  still  "Bleeding  Kansas"  and  of  the  Indian  refugees,  that  he 
was  given  permission  to  organize  an  expedition  at  once  to  carry 
out  his  purpose.9  Owing  to  petty  jealousies  and  to  the  spirit 
of  insubordination,  if  not  rank  duplicity,  on  Lane's  part,  to 
gain  his  ends,  the  expedition  soon  fell  into  disrepute  as  "Lane's 
jay  hawking  expedition."  The  project  was  thus  delayed  from 
month  to  month  until  a  petty  game  of  personal  ambition  and 
state  politics  could  be  played  out,  the  Indians,  meanwhile,  dying 
of  starvation  and  exposure. 

While  political  intrigues  and  petty  jealousies  were  sacri- 
ficing the  Union  Indians  in  Kansas,  General  Curtis  was  march- 
ing his   troops  across   Missouri  for  the  purpose   of  avenging 

6  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  8,  pp.  712,  715;  also, 
pp.  4-33. 

7  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1862,  1863;  Abel,  The 
Indians  in  the  Civil  War,  p.  289. 

8  Ibid. 

9  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  8,  p.  525. 


The  Civil  War  191 

Lyon  and  Wilson  Creek,  and  of  recovering  Federal  forts  in 
Arkansas.  The  Confederate  forces  west  of  the  Mississippi  in 
command  of  Major  General  Earl  Van  Dorn  were  concentrated 
in  northwest  Arkansas  to  oppose  him.  They  consisted  of 
Sterling  Price's  volunteer  troops,  chiefly  from  Missouri, 
McCulioch's  regulars,  and  several  regiments  of  Indians  under 
General  Albert  Pike.10  The  opposing  armies  met  near  Fayette- 
ville,  Arkansas,  early  in  March11  and  two  engagements  took 
place  at  Pea  Ridge  and  Elk  Horn  Tavern.  The  result  was  a 
defeat  for  the  Confederacy,  due  in  part  to  a  lack  of  cooperation 
among  commanding  generals.  Both  were  bloody  battles  in 
which  Indians  on  one  side  were  pitted  against  Germans  on  the 
other. 

Deeds  of  revolting  barbarism  were  perpetrated  upon  the 
dead  and  dying  by  the  scalping  knife,  sword  and  bayonet.  The 
country  at  large  was  horrified  to  hear  that  the  first  scratch  of 
battle  had  revealed  the  savage  under  the  epidermis  of  the  most 
cultured  and  civilized  Red  Skin,  and  jumped  to  the  conclusion 
that  all  Indians  employed  in  the  engagement  had  reverted  to 
their  primitive  customs  in  warfare.1"  The  truth  is  certainly 
bad  enough  to  need  no  exaggeration.  As  a  matter  of  fact  eight 
scalped  heads  were  counted  on  the  battle  field  after  the  fight 
was  over.13  There  was  perhaps  a  greater  number  of  mutilated 
bodies  of  Confederate  dead.  The  scalps,  without  doubt,  were 
counted  as  trophies  by  Indian  braves  who  had  not  yet  learned 
that  such  unrefined  methods  of  killing  their  fellow  men  were  not 
to  be  countenanced  in  civilized  warfare.  Their  own  people, 
deeply  mortified  over  the  offense,  condemned  it  severely,  but 
were  unable  to  locate  the  offenders  for  punishment.14 

The  trail  of  blood  from  the  mutilated  bodies  of  southern 
soldiers,  however,  leads  in  quite  another  direction  until  it  stops 

10  After  completing  his  work  of  negotiating  Indian  treaties,  Pike  was 
made  "Commander  of  all  the  Indian  troops  in  the  Confederate  service." 
Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  8,  p.  690. 

"March  6-8. 

12  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  8,  p.  235. 

13  Ibid,  pp.  195,  207,  236. 

"John  Ross  to  Albert  Pike,  Ross  Mss.  Information  also  furnished  by 
several  Cherokee  men  who  fought  in  the  Civil  War. 


192  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

at  the  door  of  a  band  of  men  whose  ancestors  on  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine  had  been  undergoing  the  process  of  civilization  ever 
since  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  or  before.15  Thus  it  would  seem 
that,  under  the  savage  influence  of  war,  the  power  of  atavism 
is  as  strong  after  a  thousand  years  of  evolution  as  after  a 
hundred.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  Cherokees  rendered  splendid 
service  in  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge  in  spite  of  the  contempt  in 
which  they  were  held  by  the  commanding  general. 

After  these  defeats  the  white  troops  were  drawn  off  towards 
the  east  where  they  were  needed  to  stay  the  march  of  the  Union 
army  steadily  advancing  southward  down  the  eastern  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  Colonel  Drew's  regiment  went  into  camp  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  River  in  the  Cherokee  Nation.  Colonel 
Watie  was  sent  on  a  raiding  expedition  into  southwest  Missouri 
and  General  Pike  established  headquarters  in  the  southwestern 
corner  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,16  at  Fort  McCulloch. 

At  length,  after  various  delays,  the  Lane  expedition  had 
been  organized  and  was  ready  to  march  into  Indian  Territory. 
Leaving  Humbolt,  Kansas,  the  latter  part  of  June  it  crossed 
the  southern  border  of  the  state  five  thousand  strong.  The 
advance  guard  was  led  by  General  Weer,  who,  upon  entering 
the  Indian  country,  offered  to  open  negotiations  with  the  Chero- 
kees to  return  to  their  former  alliance.  Through  Chief  Ross 
they  courteously  declined  the  offer,  saying  that  a  treaty  of 
alliance  had  already  been  entered  into  with  the  Confederacy, 
the  reasons  for  which  were  too  well  known  to  Colonel  Weer  for 
it  to  be  necessary  to  recapitulate  them.17 

The  country  was  now  in  a  defenseless  condition  and  a  letter 
was  sent  post  haste  to  General  Hindman,  who  had  been  placed 
in  command  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  District  on  the  death  of 
McCulloch  at  Pea  Ridge,  calling  on  him  for  protection  against 
the  invading  army.  The  commanding  general  at  once  ordered 
General  Pike  northward  to  join  the  Cherokee  regiments  in  the 
vicinity  of  Fort  Gibson.  Pike,  whose  forces  were  poorly 
equipped  to  meet  the  enemy,  for  reasons  which  will  appear  later, 

15  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  8,  pp.  195,  482. 

19  Near  Armstrong  Academy. 

17  Moore's  Rebellion  Records,  Vol.  5,  pp.  549-550. 


The  Civil  War  193 

sulked  in  his  tent,  ignoring  the  order.  After  it  had  been  per- 
emptorily repeated  several  times  he  resigned,  and  Douglas  M. 
Cooper  was  put  in  command.  Cooper  moved  northward 
promptly  but  too  late  to  prevent  a  Confederate  defeat  at 
Locust  Grove,  about  thirty  miles  north  of  Tahlequah.  Here 
a  small  command  composed  of  the  Cherokee  troops  under 
Colonel  Watie  and  Colonel  Drew  and  a  battalion  of  Mis- 
sourians  under  Clarkson,  offered  a  brave  resistance  to  the 
Kansas  forces,  who  outnumbered  them  two  to  one.  Clarkson's 
whole  train  was  captured  and  Drew's  regiment18  deserted  to 
the  enemy.  Colonel  Watie's  troops  fought  with  great  bravery 
but  were  finally  forced  to  give  way  to  superior  numbers.19 
An  explanation  of  Drew's  conduct,  as  well  as  Pike's,  is  to  be 
found  in  a  declaration  of  General  Pike  to  the  Five  Tribes 
bearing  the  date  of  July  31,  1861.  It  states  that  their  cause 
had  been  betrayed  by  the  Confederacy,  that  they  themselves, 
in  violation  of  their  treaties,  had  been  taken  out  of  their 
country  and  forced  to  serve  be}rond  its  boundaries,  yet  without 
their  due  measure  of  credit ;  that  they  had  been  despised  and 
criticised  by  the  white  troops ;  that  they  had  been  kept  in 
Arkansas  while  their  own  country  was  being  exposed  to  hordes 
of  jay  hawkers,  and  that  they  were  permitted  to  go  to  its 
defense  only  when  the  enemy's  forces  had  reached  such  pro- 
portions that  their  own  unaided  strength  was  unable  to  with- 
stand it,  yet  no  appreciable  number  of  white  troops  had  been 
sent  to  their  assistance.20  In  addition  to  these  charges  the 
supply  of  clothing  and  ammunition  intended  for  the  Indian 
troops  had  been  stopped  at  Little  Rock  or  Fort  Smith  and 
directed  into  other  channels  so  that  their  soldiers  were  illy  clad 
and  poorly  equipped.  They  remained  unpaid  from  month  to 
month  causing  unrest  and  dissatisfaction  throughout  Indian 
Territory.  In  addition  to  these  causes  the  old  factional  jeal- 
ousies among  the  Cherokees  had  been  aggravated  by  the  greater 
appreciation     shown     by     the     Confederate     Government     for 

"With  the  exception  of  a  small  number  of  men  under  Capt.  Pickens. 
a  Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  I,  Vol.  12,  p.  40. 
"  Ibid,  Vol.  13,  pp.  869-871. 


194  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Colonel  Watie's  troops  who  had  won  the  reputation  of  being 
better  soldiers  than  Drew's  full-bloods. 

After  the  engagement  at  Locust  Grove,  General  Weer  moved 
his  army  southward  in  two  detachments  and  established  head- 
quarters on  the  Grand  River21  about  fourteen  miles  north  of 
Fort  Gibson.  On  July  14,  Major  Campbell  entered  the  Confed- 
erate stronghold  and  the  same  day  Captain  Green  arrived  at 
Tahlequah.  The  following  day  the  latter  moved  his  command 
to  Park  Hill  where  he  found  about  two  hundred  Cherokees 
awaiting  an  opportunity  to  join  the  Union.  Colonel  W.  P. 
Ross  and  Major  Thomas  Pegg,  who  were  at  Mr.  Ross's  house 
debating  whether  they  should  respond  to  an  order  just  received 
from  Colonel  Cooper  to  report  for  duty  at  Fort  Davis,  were 
arrested  and  sent  to  headquarters. 

The  war  clouds  were  now  gathering  thick  and  fast  about 
the  gray  haired  chief  of  the  Cherokees.  A  few  days  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Union  forces  Colonel  Cooper,  in  the  name  of 
President  Davis,  had  commanded  him  to  issue  a  proclamation 
calling  on  every  able-bodied  Cherokee  man  between  the  ages  of 
eighteen  and  thirty-five  to  enlist  in  the  Confederate  military 
service.  Following  on  the  heels  of  this  demand,  and  probably 
caused  by  it,  the  Pins  rose  in  rebellion  and  compelled  their 
chief,  at  the  end  of  a  halter,  to  declare  for  neutrality.  Com- 
pliance with  the  demand  meant  death  at  the  hands  of  his  own 
people.  To  ignore  it  was  to  put  himself  at  the  mercy  of  Colonel 
Cooper.  While  he  was  thus  hesitating  between  the  devil  and 
the  deep  sea,  the  question  was  settled  for  him  by  Captain  Gaino, 
who  arrested  and  placed  him  on  parole,  thereby  adding  to  the 
complication  and  confusion. 

With  the  Confederate  army  in  retreat,  the  Federal  army 
in  control  and  his  own  government  in  anarchy,  he  found  him- 
self again  face  to  face  with  a  crisis  which  he  had  to  meet 
quickly.  The  Confederacy  had  proved  itself  no  more  faithful 
to  treaty  relations  than  the  Federal  Government  had  done. 
Good  faith  no  longer  bound  him.  Expediency  pointed  to  a 
renewal  of  relations  with  the  north.  Worn  out  and  sick  at 
heart  over  the  hopelessness  and  confusion  of  the  whole  situation, 

21  Across  the  river  from  Fort  Gibson  and  near  Muskogee. 


The  Civil  War  195 

he  determined  to  return  to  his  allegiance  to  the  Union  while 
there  was  yet  a  shadow  of  hope  to  save  himself  and  his  nation 
from  utter  annihilation.  When  General  Weer  again  ap- 
proached him  on  the  subject,  he  yielded.  As  the  Cherokee 
Nation  was  no  longer  a  safe  place  for  him  he  accepted  the  offer 
of  a  Union  escort  to  Fort  Gibson.  With  his  family  and  what 
valuables22  could  be  loaded  onto  two  ox  wagons  he  left  the 
country,  making  his  way  by  Fort  Scott,  Kansas,  to  Philadel- 
phia. 

The  success  of  the  first  Union  invasion  proved  temporary. 
At  this  time  a  small,  well  organized  force  could  have  held  the 
country  easily,  but  inefficiency  and  lack  of  harmony  among  the 
commanding  officers23  led  to  mutiny  and  insubordination  on 
the  part  of  the  soldiers.  Delay  resulted,  giving  the  Confed- 
erate Indians  under  Cooper  and  Stand  Watie  time  to  join 
forces  with  white  troops  under  General  Raines.  When  these 
combined  commands  moved  northward  the  Union  army  re- 
treated towards  Kansas,  leaving  the  Cherokee  country  in  the 
hands  of  the  Confederacy  again.  Tahlequah  was  recaptured. 
The  victorious  southern  Cherokees  held  a  convention  and  passed 
resolutions  deposing  Chief  John  Ross  from  office.  Stand  Watie, 
now  a  military  hero,  was  elected  to  succeed  him. 

Had  the  triumphant  army  been  content  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  its  victory  with  moderation  and  mercy  there  would  be  one 
less  series  of  disgraceful  tales  to  tell  of  the  Civil  War.  Unfor- 
tunately that  was  not  the  case.  Summary  vengeance  was 
wreaked  upon  the  families  of  loyal  Cherokees,  their  long-stand- 
ing enemies.  Women,  children  and  old  men,  driven  out  of  doors 
at  midnight,  were  forced  to  seek  protection  by  following  the 
trail  of  the  retreating  army  by  the  light  of  their  burning 
homesteads.  Beautiful  Rose  Cottage,  after  it  had  been  sacked 
and  denuded  of  whatever  valuables  could  be  carried  away,  was 
given  to  the  flames. 

The  success  of  the  Confederate  army  was  short-lived.  In 
a  few  weeks  the  Federal  forces,  having  rallied  for  a  second 

22  Including  all  there  was  left  in  the  National  Treasury. 

23  Colonel  Weer  was  arrested  by  Colonel  Solomen  on  the  charge  of 
drunkenness  and  foolhardiness  in  cutting  off  communications  from  the  base 
of  supplies. 


196  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

invasion  of  Indian  Territory,  marched  back  across  the  Kansas 
line,  this  time  under  command  of  Brigadier  James  G.  Blunt, 
who  defeated  Cooper  at  Fort  Wayne,  and  with  the  assistance 
of  Colonel  W.  A.  Phillips  drove  the  Confederate  army  south  of 
the  Arkansas  River.  Fort  Gibson  was  retaken  and  from  now  on 
to  the  end  of  the  war  remained  the  base  of  Union  activity  in 
Indian  Territory. 

When  the  fortunes  of  war  had  again  wrested  the  greater 
part  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  from  the  hands  of  the  Confederate 
forces  and  it  was  apparent  that  the  Northern  army  had  come 
to  stay,  the  loyal  Cherokees  met  in  Council  at  Camp  John 
Ross  in  February,  1863,  Thomas  Pegg  acting  as  principal 
chief.  They  repudiated  the  alliance  with  the  Confederate 
states,  restored  their  allegiance  to  the  Union,  abolished  slavery 
and  involuntary  servitude  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  passed 
a  law  confiscating  the  property  of  all  Cherokee  citizens  who  were 
enemies  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Ross  was  reinstated  as  principal 
chief.24 

The  war  dragged  on  in  Indian  Territory  for  two  years 
longer.  The  Union  army  continued  holding  the  country  north 
of  the  Arkansas  River  and  the  Confederates,  south.  Raids 
matched  counter-raids  with  no  permanent  gains  to  either  side 
and  much  loss  to  both.  The  Confederate  Indians  took  refuge 
on  the  Red  River  where  they  suffered  as  great  hardships  as  had 
been  endured  by  the  refugees  in  Kansas  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  Sherman's  path  to  the  sea  presented  a  scene  of  no  greater 
destruction  and  desolation  than  Indian  Territory  after  the 
Civil  War. 

The  loyal  bands  returned  to  their  homes  in  the  summer  of 
1862,  1863  and  again  in  1864  and  made  crops  only  to  have 
them  destroyed  by  raiders  from  the  south.  The  suffering  was 
intense  on  both  sides.  Parched  corn  came  to  be  a  luxury 
during  the  winter  months  and  wild  fruits  and  berries  sustained 
life  in  the  summer.  All  the  cattle  and  horses  were  appro- 
priated by  the  army,  and  with  the  able-bodied  men  in  the  service 
of  one  faction  or  the  other,  the  women  and  children  were  left 
to  shift  for  themselves. 

24  Journal  of  the  Council  for  1863  in  Manuscript,  Tahlequah,  Oklahoma. 


The  Civil  War  197 

Probably  no  part  of  the  United  or  disunited  States  suffered 
such  havoc  as  did  the  Indian  Territory  during  this  period. 
After  the  besom  of  war  had  swept,  first  north  and  then  south, 
hardly  a  home  was  left  standing.  The  country  presented  a 
tragic  picture  of  blackened  chimneys  rising  from  the  ruins  of 
charred  homesteads,  of  unfenced  fields  overgrown  with  weeds 
and  brambles,  and  of  a  destitute  population,  reduced  to  the 
very  verge  of  despondency.  Thus  did  the  Red  Man  help  pay 
the  price  of  freedom  for  the  Black. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

Reconstruction  of  the,  Cherokee  Nation 

The  fugitive  chief  of  the  Cherokees,  arriving  at  Philadelphia 
in  the  early  winter  of  1863,  had  first  to  seek  a  suitable  abiding 
place  for  his  family.  This  was  found  in  an  old  colonial  house 
on  the  south  side  of  Washington  square,  inherited  by  Mrs.  Ross.1 
Then  hastening  to  Washington  he  at  once  began  trying  to  set 
himself  and  his  nation  right  with  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. In  spite  of  intriguing  enemies,  who,  for  reasons  of  their 
own,  did  not  wish  to  see  the  Cherokee  reinstated,  he  secured  an 
interview  with  the  President  and  stated  his  case.  He  claimed 
that,  deserted  by  their  natural  protector,  his  nation  had  been 
compelled  to  seek  an  alliance  with  the  Confederacy.  As  soon 
as  the  Federal  troops  came  to  their  rescue  the  main  body  of  the 
Cherokees  had  gladly  returned  to  their  allegiance.  He  believed 
that  they  were  justified  in  the  course  they  had  pursued  because 
they  had  been  forced  into  it  by  the  exigencies  of  the  moment.2 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  had  thrown  the  whole  weight 
of  his  influence  and  the  strength  of  his  resources  into  the 
balance  of  the  Confederacy  for  a  few  months,  his  heart,  he 
naively  assured  the  President,  had  always  been  in  the  Union. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  his  heart  had  never  been  in  the  Union  nor 
in  the  Confederacy.  It  had  never  gone  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  the  Indian  Territory,  scarcely  beyond  those  of  the  Cherokee 
Nation.  He  had  joined  the  Confederacy  because  he  saw  de- 
struction ahead  if  he  did  not.  He  had  tried  to  make  the  best 
of  a  bad  situation.  Likewise,  his  loyalty  to  the  Union  was 
actuated  purely  by  motives  of  self-preservation.  Why  should 
it  have  been  otherwise?  Reviewing  the  history  of  the  last  thirty 
years  one  fails  to  find  a  reason  except  in  the  most  abstract 
ethics. 

The  point  of  view  and  logic  of  the  defense  were  not  lost 
upon  Lincoln.  With  his  great  breadth  of  mind  and  depth  of 
sympathy  he  could  not  fail  to  appreciate,  in  a  measure,  the 
position  of  the  Indian  in  the  war.     He  was  convinced  that  the 

1  Manuscript  in  the  collection  of  L.  C.  Ross,  Tahlequah,  Oklahoma. 

2  Ross  to  Lincoln,  January,  1863.    Ibid. 


Reconstruction  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  199 

chief  had  some  show  of  justice  on  his  side  and  promised  a 
thorough  examination  of  the  case  as  soon  as  circumstances 
would  permit.3  With  the  assurance  that  his  nation  would  be 
fairly  dealt  with  in  due  time,  Mr.  Ross  was  compelled  to  content 
himself  for  the  present. 

The  promised  investigation  did  not  materialize,  however, 
and  the  end  of  the  war  found  the  Cherokees  on  a  precarious 
footing  at  Washington.  If  they  had  cherished  any  hope  of 
escaping  the  rigors  of  reconstruction  they  were  soon  to  be 
undeceived.  Politicians  were  not  slow  to  see  the  White  Man's 
opportunity  in  the  Red  Man's  extremity.  It  was  a  rare  chance 
of  securing  valuable  lands  for  nothing  and  one  not  to  be 
neglected.  One  of  the  first  statements  of  this  policy  is  to  be 
found  in  the  early  summer  of  1864  in  a  letter  of  Colonel  W.  A. 
Phillips,  then  Commandant  at  Fort  Gibson.  The  occasion 
was  a  convention  held  by  the  Choctaws,  at  New  Hope  the  preced- 
ing March,  with  a  view  to  profiting  by  the  President's  Amnesty 
Proclamation.  They  had  appointed  a  provisional  governor4 
for  their  nation  and  sent  a  delegate  to  Washington.  Colonel 
Phillips,  upon  hearing  of  this,  forwarded  a  protest  to  the 
National  Capital  stating  that  the  tribe  was  still  in  a  state  of 
rebellion  and  advising  that  no  terms  be  made  until  a  more 
secure  basis  had  been  reached.  The  illuminating  suggestion 
was  added,  that  the  situation  furnished  a  good  excuse  for  reduc- 
ing the  great  Indian  domains  to  mere  reserves,  and  for  opening 
up  land  for  settlement,  an  opportunity  which  the  country  could 
not  afford  to  neglect.5 

A  word  to  the  wise  was  sufficient.  The  next  year  found  the 
policy  suggested  by  Colonel  Phillips  fairly  well  outlined  by  the 
Indian  Department.  Presently  rumors  reached  Indian  Terri- 
tory that  the  treaty  rights  of  the  Indians  were  considered 
abrogated  and  in  the  renewal  of  friendly  relations  the  tribes 
would  be  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  United  States  in 
consequence  of  their  part  in  the  rebellion.     The  people  of  the 

3  Correspondence  between  Lincoln  and  Ross,  in  Ross  Manuscripts. 

4  Thomas  Edwards. 

8  Abel,  A.  H.,  The  Indians  in  the  Civil  War,  American  Historical  Review, 
Vol.  15,  p.  295. 


200  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Five  Tribes,  having  much  to  lose  in  such  a  case,  were  particu- 
larly uneasy  and  desirous  of  renewing  their  treaty  relations 
on  the  best  terms  obtainable.  As  a  first  step  towards  this  end 
a  grand  council  of  all  the  Southern  Indians  was  called  to  meet 
at  Camp  Napolian,  Chattahomha,  May  24,  1865.  Represen- 
tatives of  fifteen  tribes  are  said  to  have  been  present.6  A  solemn 
league  of  peace  and  friendship  was  entered  into,  resolutions 
were  drawn  up  expressing  their  purpose  and  wishes  and  dele- 
gates, representing  each  of  the  tribes,  were  appointed  to  go  to 
Washington  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  with  the  Federal 
Government  on  the  subject  of  new  treaties.  Hearing  of  this 
action  of  the  Indians  and  thinking  it  wiser  to  arrange  treaties 
with  them  in  their  own  country,  the  President  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  meet  their  representative  at  some  place  in  the  Indian 
Territory. 

The  Choctaws  again  took  the  initiative.  Their  chief,  Peter 
Pytchlyn,  a  conservative,  well  educated  man,  who  had  never 
been  a  bitter  partisan  in  the  war,7  sent  out  a  call  for  a  general 
conference  with  the  commissioners  to  be  held  at  Armstrong 
Academy,  September  1.  His  proclamation,  after  describing 
the  existing  conditions  and  urging  all  to  send  representatives 
to  the  conference,  closes  with  the  following  significant  sentences : 
"It  therefore  becomes  us  as  a  brave  people  to  forget  and  lay 
aside  our  prejudices  and  prove  ourselves  equal  to  the  occasion. 
Let  reason  obtain,  now  that  the  sway  of  passion  has  passed,  and 
let  us  meet  in  council,  with  a  proper  spirit,  to  renew  our  former 
relations  with  the  United  States  government."8 

The  Grand  Council  which  was  convened  at  Fort  Smith, 
instead  of  at  Armstrong  Academy,  to  suit  the  convenience  of 
the  commissioners,  proved  to  be  a  notable  one  indeed.  The 
Federal  Government  was  represented  by  Elijah  Sells,  Super- 
intendent of  the  Southern  Indians,  Thomas  Wister,  a  prominent 
Quaker  of  Pennsylvania,  Major  General  W.  S.  Harvey  of  the 
United  States  Army,  Colonel  Ely  S.  Parker,  an  educated  Iro- 

•Cherokees,  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Creeks,  Seminoles,  Caddoes,  Chey- 
ennes,  Araphaoes,  Osages,  Kiawas,  Lepans,  Northern  Osages  and  Ana- 
dockies.    Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1865,  p.  295. 

T  Abbot,  History  and  Civics  of  Oklahoma,  p.  127. 

8Thoburn  and  Holcomb,  History  of  Oklahoma,  p.  100. 


Reconstruction  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  201 

quois  Indian  who  had  served  as  a  member  of  General  Grant's 
staff  during  the  war,  and  D.  N.  Cooley,  president  of  the  com- 
mission. Milton  W.  Reynolds,  who  was  present  as  a  represen- 
tative of  the  New  York  Tribune,  declared  that  the  delegates  of 
the  Indian  tribes  were  no  less  brilliant  and  conspicuous  than 
the  representatives  of  the  Federal  Government,  but  if  the  truth 
were  told,  so  far  as  power  of  expression,  knowledge  of  Indian 
treaties  and  real  oratory  were  concerned,  they  had  a  decided 
advantage.9  Governor  Colbert  of  the  Chickasaws,  Colonel 
Pytchlyn  of  the  Choctaws  and  Chief  Ross  of  the  Cherokees  were 
regarded  as  men  of  ablity,  education  and  good  breeding  where- 
ever  they  were  known.  But  the  most  gifted  and  powerful  in 
eloquence  of  all  the  Indian  representatives  was  Colonel  E.  C. 
Boudinot,  son  of  Elias  Boudinot10  and  nephew  of  Stand  Watie, 
just  out  of  the  Confederate  Congress  at  Richmond  where  he 
had  served  as  a  delegate  of  the  Southern  Cherokees.  With  his 
impassioned  eloquence  and  distinguished  appearance  he  was  one 
of  the  most  pronounced  figures  in  the  convention.11  There  was 
present  also  a  large  delegation  from  Kansas,  composed  of  law- 
yers and  lobbyists,  who  came  for  the  purpose  of  insisting  that 
room  be  made  in  Indian  Territory  for  the  Indians  in  Kansas 
whose  reservations  covered  some  of  the  best  lands  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  state.  In  addition  to  all  these  was  a  multitude 
of  men,  women  and  children  from  the  various  tribes.  Their  pic- 
turesque camps  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town  must  have  inter- 
ested even  if  their  pathetic  poverty  failed  to  touch  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  most  hardened  war  veteran  present. 

The  council  was  called  to  order  on  September  8.12  After 
the  blessings  of  the  Great  Spirit  had  been  invoked  upon  the 
deliberations  in  an  earnest  prayer  by  Reverend  Lewis  Downing, 
second  chief  of  the  Cherokee  Nation,  the  objects  of  the  meeting 
were  stated  by  the  chairman,  Commissioner  Cooley,  who  in- 

8  Rock,  Marion  T.,  Illustrated  History  of  Oklahoma,  pp.  8-9.  Mr. 
Reynolds  wrote  a  reminiscence  of  the  meeting  several  years  after  it  took 
place. 

10  Killed  at  Park  Hill,  1839. 

11  Rock,  Illustrated  History  of  Oklahoma,  p.  9. 

12  The  proceedings  of  the  Conference  are  given  in  full  in  the  Report  of 
the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1865,  pp.  299-336. 


202  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

formed  the  Indians  that  since  most  of  them  had  violated  their 
treaty  obligations  to  the  United  States  by  entering  into  diplo- 
matic relations  with  the  Confederacy  they  had  forfeited  all 
annuities  and  interests  in  lands  in  Indian  Territory.  However, 
the  long-suffering  President  was  willing  to  hear  his  erring 
children  in  extenuation  of  their  great  crime,  and  to  make  treaties 
with  such  nations  as  were  willing  to  be  at  peace  among  them- 
selves and  with  the  United  States.  There  were  certain  general 
terms  on  which  their  relations  might  be  restored :  the  opposing 
factions  of  each  tribe  must  enter  into  a  treaty  of  amity  and 
peace  among  themselves,  between  each  other  as  tribes,  and  with 
the  United  States;  the  tribes  settled  in  the  Indian  country 
should  bind  themselves,  at  the  call  of  the  United  States  authori- 
ties, to  assist  in  keeping  peace  among  the  wild  tribes  of  the 
plains;  slavery  should  be  abolished  and  measures  taken  to 
incorporate  the  slaves  into  the  several  tribes  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  original  members,  or  they  should  otherwise  suitably 
provide  for  them;  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  should 
never  exist  in  any  tribe  or  nation  except  in  the  punishment 
of  crime;  a  part  of  the  lands  hitherto  owned  and  occupied  by 
the  Indians  must  be  set  apart  for  the  friendly  Indians  in 
Kansas  and  elsewhere  on  such  terms  as  might  be  agreed  upon, 
or  fixed  by  the  government.13 

Full  delegations  from  some  of  the  tribes  had  not  yet  arrived 
but  the  next  few  da}rs  were  taken  up  by  those  present  in 
submitting  credentials,  discussing  the  limitations  placed  upon 
them  by  their  instructions  and  in  explaining  how  and  why  they 
had  been  induced  to  sign  treaties  with  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  chairman  of  the  Council  one 
of  the  most  interesting  of  these  explanations  was  a  paper  from 
the  loyal  Cherokees  pleading  "not  guilty"  to  the  charge  of 
being  rebels  in  consequence  of  the  treaty  concluded  with  the 
southern  states.  This  brought  forth  a  lengthy  reply  from 
Commissioner  Cooley  in  which  he  reviewed  the  history  of  the 
Cherokees  in  the  Civil  War,  showing  that  they  had  been  guilty 
of  open  defection  from  the  Union,  and  fixing  the  blame  upon  a 

u  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1865,  p.  299. 


Reconstruction  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  203 

few  bad  men,  chief  of  whom  was  John  Ross.  That  the  majority 
of  the  nation  had  been,  and  still  were,  loyal  at  heart  he  admitted. 
If  they  wished  to  remove  the  stigma  and  the  disability  placed 
upon  them  by  a  few  wicked  renegades  they  would  be  given  an 
opportunity  to  do  so  by  submitting  to  the  terms  proposed  by 
the  United  States.  All  forfeitures  and  penalties  against  those 
who  had  not  voluntarily  aided  the  enemy  would  be  remitted, 
even  if  they  were  found  necessary  in  other  cases. 

After  four  days  of  preliminary  discussion  by  delegations 
from  several  different  tribes,  a  draft  of  a  preliminary  treaty 
based  upon  the  principles  contained  in  the  opening  remarks 
of  the  commissioner  was  presented  to  the  convention.  The 
loyal  Cherokees  expressed  their  willingness  to  sign  the  agree- 
ment if  they  did  not  acknowledge  that  they  had  forfeited  their 
rights  and  annuities  as  set  forth  in  the  preamble,  but  their 
signatures  must  be  made  under  the  statement  that  "we,  the 
loyal  delegation,  acknowledge  the  execution  of  the  treaty  of 
October  7,  1861,  but  we  solemnly  declare  that  the  execution  was 
procured  by  the  coercion  of  the  rebel  army."14  The  Southern 
Cherokees  objected  to  the  treaty  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be 
neither  for  the  benefit  of  the  emancipated  negro,  nor  for  that 
of  the  Indian,  to  incorporate  the  former  into  the  tribe  on  an 
equal  footing  with  its  original  members.  They  also  objected 
to  consolidating  all  the  tribes  of  Indian  Territory  under  one 
government  because  of  the  many  incongruous  and  irreconcilable 
members  which  no  power  could  bring  into  a  semblance  of  as- 
similation. They  further  asked  that  there  might  be  an  equit- 
able division  of  their  country  by  the  United  States,  as  they  be- 
lieved that  there  was  no  way  of  restoring  peace  and  harmony 
between  the  still  warring  factions. 

Mr.  Ross  was  still  in  the  east  when  plans  for  the  council 
were  arranged.  Realizing  how  desirable  it  was  for  him  to 
be  on  hand  to  defend  himself  and  his  nation,  he  set  out  for  the 
west  as  soon  as  he  was  able.  The  Cherokee  National  Council 
was  in  session  when  he  reached  Tahlequah  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember, and  he  lingered  a  few  days  before  proceeding  to  Fort 
Smith.     It  was  not  until  the  thirteenth  that  he  arrived  at  the 

14  Ibid,  p.  336. 


204  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

camp  of  his  delegation  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  from  the 
place  of  meeting.  Fatigued  from  the  long  and  wearisome  jour- 
ney the  aged  chief  did  not  show  himself  at  the  council  grounds 
until  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day  and  after  the  pre- 
liminary treaty  had  been  submitted. 

The  meeting  had  been  in  session  several  days  and  the  fac- 
tional differences  between  the  loyal  and  the  Southern  Cherokees 
had  been  given  time  to  show  themselves.  Added  to  the  ancient 
feuds,  which  still  rankled,  was  the  confiscation  act  passed  by 
the  loyal  Council  of  1863,  which  prevented  the  southern  part 
of  the  tribe,  numbering  about  six  thousand,  from  returning 
home.  They  were  at  this  time  living  in  great  destitution  upon 
the  Red  River  and  their  representatives  at  Fort  Smith  were 
anxious  to  secure  assurance  from  the  loyal  delegation  that  the 
law  would  be  repealed  and  their  people  reinstated  in  their 
homes.  This  promise  could  not  be  secured,  the  delegation 
claiming  that  they  did  not  have  the  power  to  bind  their  Council 
to  any  policy  of  action.  Considerable  disappointment  and 
irritation  naturally  resulted,  and  as  usual,  Mr.  Ross  was  con- 
veniently made  the  scapegoat  by  the  commissioners,  who  had 
made  up  their  minds  before  his  arrival  to  refuse  to  recognize 
his  official  position. 

To  the  surprise  of  the  Cherokee  delegation,  therefore,  at 
the  first  session  which  Chief  Ross  attended  Commissioner  Cooley 
read  an  announcement  to  the  assembled  Indians  stating  that 
the  commissioners  refused,  in  any  way  or  manner,  to  recognize 
Mr.  Ross  as  chief  of  the  Cherokees,  giving  as  their  reason  that 
he  was  considered  by  them  an  enemy  to  the  United  States,  that 
he  was  disposed  to  breed  discord  among  his  own  people  and  be- 
tween them  and  the  United  States ;  that  he  counseled  the  Creeks 
against  signing  the  treaty  then  under  consideration ;  and  finally 
that  he  did  not  represent  the  will  and  the  wishes  of  the  loyal 
Cherokees.15 

If  they  expected  the  Indians  to  meekly  acquiesce  in  this 
high-handed  policy  they  did  not  appreciate  the  character  of 
the  men  with  whom  they  were  dealing.     A  people  naturally  so 

M  The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  4.  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs,  1865,  p.  306;    Ibid,  p.  308. 


Reconstruction  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  205 

tenacious  of  their  right  to  life  and  liberty  could  not  well  have 
been  expected  to  yield  up  their  autonomy  at  the  drop  of  the 
hat  after  all  the  years  of  struggle  to  maintain  it,  nor  would 
they  permit  such  a  stigma  to  rest  upon  a  man  who  had  served 
them  so  faithfully  and  so  long.  A  solemn  protest  was  promptly 
filed  by  a  committee  from  the  delegation  of  loyal  Cherokees  in 
which  they  claimed,  putting  it  mildly,  that  the  act  of  the  com- 
missioners was  based  on  erroneous  information;  that  Mr.  Ross 
was  not  the  pretended  chief  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  but  the 
principal  chief  in  law  and  fact,  having  been  duly  elected  to 
that  position  by  the  qualified  voters,  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  constitution;  that  for  the  past  three  years 
he  had  been  the  authorized  delegate  to  Washington,  and  the 
recognized  head  of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  There  had  been  no 
action  on  his  part  during  this  time  which  impugned  his  loyalty 
to  the  United  States  or  his  fidelity  to  the  Cherokee  Nation.  As 
to  his  course  in  the  Civil  War  he  had  remained  loyal  long  after 
the  tribes  and  states  in  his  vicinity  had  abjured  their  allegiance 
to  the  Union  and  after  all  protection  had  been  withdrawn  by 
the  United  States,  yielding  to  the  Confederacy  only  when  fur- 
ther resistance  threatened  the  entire  destruction  of  his  people. 
They  denied  that  he  had  used  his  influence  since  his  arrival  at 
the  Council  to  prevent  the  Cherokees  or  the  Creeks  from  signing 
the  proposed  treaty.  The  discussions  following,  in  which  E.  C. 
Boudinot  took  a  brilliant  part,  served  only  to  widen  the  breach 
between  the  two  factions,  and  between  the  loyal  Cherokees  and 
the  commissioners.  The  restoration  of  friendly  relations  be- 
tween them  appeared  yet  a  long  way  off,  and  all  hope  of  a 
treaty  agreement  at  this  time  was  given  up. 

The  success  of  the  Fort  Smith  Council  from  the  point  of 
view  of  all  concerned  was  only  partial,  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
terms  offered  by  the  United  States  were  not  altogether  accep- 
table to  the  Indians,  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  several  of  the 
delegations,  including  the  Cherokees,  had  not  been  notified  that 
new  treaties  with  them  were  desired  by  the  government,  and  they 
had  therefore  not  been  properly  authorized  to  make  treaties 
relinquishing  any  of  their  lands  for  the  use  of  friendly  tribes 
in  Kansas.   The  Cherokees  refused  to  enter  into  any  negotiation 


206  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

for  such  a  treaty  until  their  Council  should  appoint  a  commis- 
sion with  the  proper  authority  for  the  purpose.16  The  meeting 
therefore  came  to  an  end  with  nothing  definite  accomplished, 
so  far  as  the  Cherokees  were  concerned,  except  a  preliminary 
treaty  of  peace  and  amity  as  a  basis  for  future  action,  and  an 
agreement  to  send  a  delegation  with  proper  authority  to  treat 
at  Washington,  probably  the  next  December. 

The  winter  of  1866  was  a  dreary  one  indeed  for  the  whole 
tribe.  The  condition  of  those  on  the  Red  River  could  not  be 
expected  to  improve  as  long  as  they  remained  there.  Those 
who  returned  to  their  desolate  nation  fared  little  better.  There 
were  few  churches,  no  schools,  no  cultivated  fields,  except  here 
and  there  a  little  corn  patch  in  some  secluded  place  cultivated 
by  women  and  children  and  the  old  men.  The  mills  had  been 
destroyed  so  that  the  primitive  mortar  and  pestle  had  to  be 
depended  upon  for  what  little  meal  was  used.  Fortunate  in- 
deed were  those  who  had  all  the  boiled  corn  or  hominy  they 
wanted.  Flour  at  forty  dollars  a  barrel  was  prohibitive.  Even 
salt,  which  before  the  war  had  been  manufactured  in  consider- 
able quantities  on  the  Grand  Saline,  was  at  a  premium,  the  salt 
works,  which  had  been  in  use  for  over  thirty  years,  having 
gone  the  way  of  other  improvements.  Hoes,  plows,  axes,  all 
implements  so  necessary  to  an  agricultural  community,  were 
sold  at  prohibitive  rates,  and  the  necessary  price  of  the  com- 
monest necessities  was  very  hard  to  get.  It  was  high  time 
something  should  be  done  to  restore  to  the  people  their  national 
pride  and  to  furnish  them  an  incentive,  as  well  as  the  means, 
for  work. 

This  was  plainly  no  time  for  haggling  and  hair-splitting. 
Yet  when  the  delegations  met  in  Washington  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  their  early  discussions  gave  little  promise  of  prompt 
adjustment  of  the  difficulties  by  means  of  a  treaty.  Both  sides 
had  engaged  strong  legal  counsel  and  the  discussions  were  ably 
conducted.  Draft  after  draft  of  a  treaty  was  drawn  up,  only 
to  be  rejected  by  one  or  both  parties.  The  Southern  Cherokees, 
feeling  that  it  would  be  unsafe  to  return  home  with  the  Ross 
party  in  full  possession  of  the  government  and  the  confisca- 

18  The  Cherokee  Question,  p.  3. 


Reconstruction  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  207 

tion  laws  in  force,  demanded  as  the  only  hope  for  their  peace 
and  well-being  a  division  of  the  Cherokee  lands  and  annuities 
in  proportion  to  the  numbers  of  each  party.17  A  prompt  pro- 
test was  filed  by  the  National  party  which  had  always  opposed 
any  scheme  which  threatened  their  national  integrity.  They 
suggested  instead  that  one  district18  of  the  nation  be  set 
aside  for  two  years  for  the  sole  occupation  of  the  Southern 
party,  pending  a  final  settlement  of  the  controversy.  Of  course 
this  plan  was  wholly  unacceptable  to  the  opposition  because  of 
the  smallness  of  the  district  and  for  other  very  good  reasons. 
Weeks  and  months  of  bickering  and  wire-pulling  followed, 
each  party  suspicious  of  the  other,  and  both  of  the  Federal 
Government,  which,  determined  to  secure  land  upon  which  to 
colonize  Indian  tribes  in  Kansas,  was  not  blind  to  its  oppor- 
tunity of  driving  a  keen  bargain  at  the  expense  of  the  dis- 
cordant factions.  Despairing  of  arranging  terms  with  the 
loyal  Cherokees,  the  commissioners  at  last  determined  to  treat  ' 
with  the  Southern  party.  Finally  on  June  19,  a  treaty  was  \ 
concluded  with  them  providing  that  a  certain  part  of  the/ 
Cherokee  Nation  should  be  set  apart  for  their  exclusive  use. 
They  in  turn  agreed  to  sell  to  the  United  States  a  part  of 
the  national  domain.  The  treaty  was  not  laid  before  the  Senate 
but  used  as  a  sort  of  moral  suasion  on  the  Nationals,  who, 
after  another  month  of  discussion,  themselves  came  to  terms 
and  signed  a  treaty  on  July  19.  At  best  this  treaty  was  a 
three-cornered  compromise  which  pleased  nobody,  but  was  rec- 
ognized by  all  as  the  best  that  could  be  obtained  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. The  Federal  Government,  as  usual,  came  out  the 
greatest  gainer.  The  treaty  provided  for  the  repudiation  of 
the  alliance  with  the  Confederacy ;  declared  amnesty  for  all  past 
offenses;  repealed  the  confiscation  laws;  allowed  160  acres  of 
land  to  every  freedman;  agreed  to  the  establishment  of  a 
United  States  Court  in  the  Indian  Territory,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  friendly  Indians  on  unoccupied  lands  of  the  Cherokees. 
These,  with  some  articles  of  minor  importance,  constituted  the 
treaty  of  1866.19 

17  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Indian  A  fairs,  1866,  p.  67. 

18  Canadian  district. 

19 14  U.  8.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  799. 


208  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

Chief  Ross,  though  much  broken  in  health,  headed  his  dele- 
gation as  he  had  done  for  almost  forty  years.  Before  the  final 
draft  of  the  treaty  was  arranged  he  became  too  ill  to  attend 
the  deliberations  of  the  delegation.  Realizing  that  his  end 
was  near,  the  commissioners,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior,  repealed  their  decree  of  the  previous  year  de- 
posing him  from  the  chieftainship  of  the  Cherokees  on  the 
ground  that  the  reason  which  rendered  that  action  necessary 
no  longer  existed.  Just  at  sunset  on  August  first,  he  quietly 
and  peacefully  passed  away. 

When  news  of  his  death  reached  the  Cherokee  Nation,  there 
was  sincere  mourning  among  a  large  portion  of  his  people,  both 
full-bloods  and  the  mixed  element  who  realized  that  they  had 
lost  in  their  venerable  chief  a  warm  friend  and  an  able  champion. 
By  act  of  the  National  Council,  his  body  was  taken  to  Park  Hill 
and  interred  with  fitting  ceremony  in  the  cemetery  near  his 
old  home.  When  the  National  Council  convened  in  October  it 
passed  a  resolution  and  placed  upon  the  records  a  memorial  in 
which  his  service  to  his  people  and  their  love  and  confidence 
toward  him  were  ably  expressed.  It  claims  justly  that  his  long 
career,  passed  in  the  constant  service  of  his  people,  "furnishes 
an  instance  of  confidence  on  their  part  and  fidelity  on  his 
which  had  never  been  surpassed  in  history."20 

That  there  is  another  side  to  Mr.  Ross's  reputation,  those 
who  have  followed  thisNstory  of  his  life  need  not  be  reminded. 
By  his  enemies  he  was  regarded  in  a  very  different  light  from 
that  in  which  he  appeareckto  his  friends.  Fond  of  place  and 
power,  ambitious  for  his  own  immediate  family,  dishonest  in 
the  use  of  the  Cherokee  national  funds,  severe  and  partial  in 
the  administration  of  justice,  crafty  and  unscrupulous,  trim- 
ming his  sails  to  every  political  breeze, — these  are  some  of  the 
charges  brought  against  him. 

Most  of  these  charges  were  made  by  prejudiced  persons  not 
competent  to  judge  the  man  fairly,  and  are  therefore  not  to 
be  considered  seriously.  Some  of  them  are  perhaps  true  in  a 
sense.     In  the  light  of  later  events  it  is  evident  that  he  made 

20  Cherokee  National  Mss.  Records,  Tahlequah,  Oklahoma, 


Reconstruction  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  209 

mistakes  in  his  policy  of  government.  Yet  they  were  not  mis- 
takes of  a  small  man,  but  of  a  great  one.  If  he  erred  it  was 
on  the  side  of  zeal  for  a  cause  which  he  thought  to  be  right. 
That  he  was  a  political  trimmer  is  an  accusation  that  needs 
stronger  proof  than  has  yet  been  brought  to  light,  while  the 
accusation  itself  can  be  easily  accounted  for  without  discredit 
to  Mr.  Ross.  To  understand  him  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
he  was  first,  last  and  always  a  Cherokee  Indian,  a  citizen  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation  which  was  to  him  a  sovereign,  independent 
nation.  His  consuming  desire  and  purpose  were  to  serve  and 
protect  to  the  best  of  his  ability  this  nation  at  whose  head  he 
stood  so  proudly  and  staunchly  for  many  years.  To  him  its 
welfare  and  its  claims  were  paramount.  He  had  no  other 
patriotism,  a  fact  which  can  be  understood  and  appreciated 
fully,  perhaps,  only  by  those  who  have  lived  under  conditions 
similar  to  those  under  which  he  lived  and  have  possessed  senti- 
ments and  attachments  akin  to  his. 

The  interests  of  the  full-blood  Indians  were  his  first  care. 
The  Cherokees  have  since  had  chiefs  who  were  patriotic  and 
incorruptible,  men  of  whom  any  group  of  people  might  justly 
be  proud.  But  they  have  never  had  a  chief  who  so  guarded  the 
interests  of  the  helpless  and  gave  them  preference  over  the 
stronger  mixed-blood  population.  And  who  has  heeded  a  strong 
and  sincere  friend  more  than  the  full-blood?  The  Cherokees 
can  boast  of  better  educated  men  than  John  Ross,  more  eloquent 
orators,  men  of  greater  literary  skill,  of  higher  legal  talent. 
But  they  have  yet  to  produce  a  statesman  of  greater  all-round 
ability,  of  more  strength  of  character,  of  greater  devotion  to 
his  tribe  than  this  Scotch  Cherokee  Christian  gentleman  whose 
long  dramatic  career  came  to  a  close  well-nigh  half  a  century 
ago,  marking  the  end  of  a  most  important  period  of  Cherokee 
history. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
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Adams,  John  Quincy,  Memoirs,  Edited  by  Charles  Frances  Adams. 

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Annals  of  Congress,  1789-1824. 

Annual  Cyclopedia,  1861. 

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Bartram,  William,  Travels  Through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
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Affairs  to  the  President  on  the  Question  of  Cherokee  Loyalty  in  the 
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and  various  letters  and  papers  on  the  Civil  War  in  the  Cherokee  Country. 

Cherokee  Treaties,  1866. 

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misioner,  March  4,  1842.     On  file  in  Indian  Office,  Washington,  D.  C. 

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ranged in  order  for  convenient  reference  purposes,  but  are  very  valuable 
material  on  the  subject  nevertheless.  A  description  of  them  is  given 
in  Van  Tyne  and  Leland's  Guide  to  American  Archives,  pp.  205-209, 
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Bibliography  211 

Missionary  Herald,  Ayer  Collection,  Newberry  Library,  Chicago. 

Moore's  Rebellion  Records,  Vols.  II  and  VI. 

Morse,  J.,  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War  on  Indian  Affairs,  1822. 

Niles'  Register,  Numbers  4,  6,  14,  16,  26,  36,  37,  39,  40,  41,  42. 

Nuttall,  Journal  of  Travels  in  the  Arkansas  Territory  (Phil.,  1829). 

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212  John  Ross  and  the  Cherokee  Indians 

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